What does success look like?

[Lynn Terry]

Also read over this page:
http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/guides.htm

Don't buy anything - just read over the page. That will give you a good idea of the methods I use to make money online.

[WAHumor]

y'know, the very best thing for me to do may well be printing off that one post of yours, Lynn, using it daily and tying anything else into it, starting with your guide page.

Maybe for a lot of people!

Heck, ain't getting any younger...


Dan

[NicoleDean]

Actually that "If you only had $100 to your name and had to rebuild your business with no contacts and no other assets, how would you do it?" is the final question that I ask in each of my podcasts.

You can hear Lynn answer it here:
http://nicoleonthenet.com/2009/onlin...-3-lynn-terry/

I find it fascinating that every successful marketer I ask, answers that question slightly differently.

[TomM]

Ok thats a great start. Now how long would it take you to create this? And do you have an income goal before you start? How much money do you expect to make for your efforts? Do you start out selling affiliate products with the goal of creating your own(the ed dale approach?) Do you mix and match the products on your page or do you focus on one product? You used the phrase "when everything is set up" what does that look like? How much traffic is enough? How do you know when to move on to another site? Do you have failures as well? I know thats alot of questions but I am really trying to understand success before I dive in headfirst.

[Lynn Terry]

It's great - keep those questions coming!

I'm off to host Brainstorming Hour with Elite Members, but I'll be back and I'll answer each one in detail...

[TomM]

Nicole,

Great interview I never would have heard if you didn't respond to this forum. Thanks a bunch!

Tom

ps: wow there are 11 total interviews, can't wait to listen to all of them!!

[Lynn Terry]

I love Nicole's SuccessCast!

Ok thats a great start. Now how long would it take you to create this? And do you have an income goal before you start? How much money do you expect to make for your efforts?

It would take me pulling a long weekend - or a regular work week. Average 30-40 hours to create the site or blog. It's never "done" but it would take me that long to put it together to the point of putting it online and "open for business".

I have a "guesstimate" formula to determine niche potential:

http://www.clicknewz.com/260/niche-potential/

Some sites I expect to do better than others, based on search volume or commercial intent. If I have a good little niche with low search volume but obvious commercial intent, and I know I probably can't get it earning more than $500/month - It's still worth investing a few days upfront and a few hours here and there to maintain that passive income stream.

Do you mix and match the products on your page or do you focus on one product?

That depends on the model, the niche, and the objective. I rarely build an affiliate site around ONE product - unless I know I can replace it without messing up the site. That's in case the product goes off the market, they close the affiliate program, or I lose affiliate status for some reason.

I prefer to build sites around topics, not products.

Do you start out selling affiliate products with the goal of creating your own(the ed dale approach?)

Not usually. I'm what you call a lazy affiliate. The whole appeal of affiliate marketing was to avoid product development, customer service, etc.



I've been up'ing my game more the last year or so though, and am doing short reports with as much automation as possible. That means an autoresponder in place instead of writing a newsletter, an FAQ page so I'm not stuck answering the same questions over and over, a VA to answer all of the "I cant find my download link" emails, etc.

You used the phrase "when everything is set up" what does that look like?

It might look something like this (but better):
http://www.giftapolis.com/elprheknboja.html

That's an actual online store, so instead of "add to cart" you would deep link to the merchant's checkout page for that product. But most of my affiliate sites for physical products are "ecommerce style".

How much traffic is enough?

It's never enough!

Kidding - real answer is: I want to rank in the top 3 for every single relevant keyword phrase possible in my niche. Once I've achieved that, and have all other marketing strategies on a roll - it's basically getting all the traffic it's going to get. So that's enough.

Marketing is a work in progress - you can always drive more traffic.

Going back to your question though, there is no standard. Obviously every niche or sub-niche has it's own search volume or seasonal high's & lows - so no standard.

You do need at least 1000 clicks to do any proper testing, though.

How do you know when to move on to another site?

When you've done everything you can possibly to do site #1, it's rolling at max potential, and you're bored.

Do you have failures as well?

Of course! But they're usually my fault

Here's the thing - if something "fails", that just tells you what doesn't work. Great! You can now mark that off the list and try the next thing until you figure out what DOES work.

The only real failure is quitting.

I know thats alot of questions but I am really trying to understand success before I dive in headfirst.

Smart move! Thanks for the great questions - if you think of any more, post away...

[TomM]

Thanks Lynn! Super informative. I have many, many questions but I am going to listen to Ed's presentation tonight and distill and read what you have given me so far. I need to make about $5k per month to pay my bills and reinvest back into the business. So what I am trying to do is come up with an overall business strategy to make that happen and price out the minimum tools and effort that it will take to get it going. When I am done I will post it here for comments(or barfing) and feedback on how to make it better. Thanks again

Tom

[Lynn Terry]

Great - let me know if you have any questions along the way

And thank you for the questions. I think everyone reading along has enjoyed the topic so I appreciate you taking the time to start the thread!

[LSant71]

That is some great insight Lynn! You just answered a ton of questions in that post. more than some of the full blown training courses I've read.

I know it's not as easy as it sounds but, that was more or less a quick A,B,C of how to get started today. Thanks :-)