Maybe they think they can’t write well, or that they don’t know enough to write, or whatever. But they use traffic exchanges and safelists to send people to their affiliate links, and try to build email lists using list building programs, etc. Anything that doesn’t actually require creating content.

Creating content is one of the skills needed to do Internet Marketing properly. That’s important to understand, custom content is absolutely necessary. Sending junk traffic to an affiliate link isn’t going to make you much. Custom content provides value and builds trust, and is part of the whole process.

Now, you don’t have to create that content yourself. You can get fairly decent content created inexpensively online by checking places the freelancers hang out. People tend to avoid outsourcing content creation because of the cost. On a per article basis, content creation is pretty reasonable. But the sheer amount of content needed for even a reasonable sized mini-site makes the entire package expensive.

As a beginner, you have two options.

One is to learn to create the content yourself. Just start writing, and keep at it. You don’t have to post any of it, but you won’t build skill unless you start practicing.

The other option is to partner with someone who can create content, who needs the skills you do have. To find these people you have to network, and put yourself out there approaching bloggers who also seem to be in the beginning of their career. Ideally you’d pick bloggers in the niche you want content created for, not bloggers who are in the “make money online” niche.

How about you? Do you create content, or try to get by without it?

This blog is supported through sales, not ads. If you like a product I’ve reviewed, buying it through my link helps keep the site alive and more reviews coming. Also, if you found this post interesting or helpful, consider subscribing to my RSS feed. If you’re already a subscriber, thank you!

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The main page for the site says it provides “cash back advertising”. The idea being that you can pay for advertising, and get some cash back from the exchange. The implication being that you can get back a whole lot more cash than you put into it, eventually. On a first read, this reminded me of Rick Katz’ Co-op Ad Club, which had a similar theme.

The Revenue Magic site is low on details, though, promising a full explanation in the member’s area. Since you can join for free, I figured I’d bite and see what was inside.

There is a lot more detail inside, but it still doesn’t do a good job of spelling out exactly how it all works. They do a good job of explaining the cash back aspect of it. You can refer others, and you can also be put into a rotator that promises to fill out your first level.

But it was the advertising side of things I wanted to know more about. There are plenty of plans that are little more than self-contained MLM schemes out there, the magic would have been combining that with a truly useful advertising co-op.

The advertising works with ad credits. You get 500 free ad credits just for joining, so you can try out their advertising options. You can get banner ads, text ads, full page view ads, email ads, and top sponsor ads. That sounds like a pretty full offering, but, ultimately, you’re only advertising on Revenue Magic itself. The banner and text ads are displayed on their web site, the full page view ads are just a traffic exchange, the email ads are solo ads mailed out to the Revenue Magic membership, and the top sponsor ads are displayed in any emails Revenue Magic sends out.

All of that isn’t particularly bad, but the prices are high. They have several packages, most of which include membership in the rotator at $49.95. You then pay approximately half a cent per ad credit. It takes 40,000 ad credits to send an email ad (the most effective of the advertising options), so you’re talking about $200 for a solo ad.

While the idea is attractive, the implementation isn’t. But it did get my mind going about what a truly useful cash back advertising co-op would look like. What Rick Katz was doing had elements of it, but fell short, and Revenue Magic’s approach has elements of it, too. When I’ve worked through the brainstorming and come up with my ideal program, I’ll post the details of it here.

In the meantime, click here to see Revenue Magic for yourself.

This blog is supported through sales, not ads. If you like a product I’ve reviewed, buying it through my link helps keep the site alive and more reviews coming. Also, if you found this post interesting or helpful, consider subscribing to my RSS feed. If you’re already a subscriber, thank you!

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Some important notes on Chitika | Premium:
1) Ad codes must be above or just below your article titles.
2) Ads only get served to *some* U.S. readers/viewers.
3) To avoid a ‘blank space’ (and wasted revenue stream), you’re encouraged to use an alternate URL. That alternate URL may show a different ad that will be served to readers/visitors who do not get to see the Chitika | Premium ad.
4) These ads are CPC (Cost Per Click). So, you will make money from readers/visitors who see and click on these ads, even if they don’t do anything else.

* Disclosure:
1) Some affiliate links included in this post.
2) Chitika and b5media recently announced a partnership regarding the Premium Ads programme.

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If you’ve ever tried making a content site you will quickly learn that good content is time consuming and difficult to create. Also, to create enough of it to make some traffic and money take real effort.

I’m suggesting you find other people to write for you. Nothing new there, except I’m suggesting scout them out from youtube.

Youtube People Care

Youtube folks make content for free. They love their subjects. Many of them would like to make a few dollars from their efforts.

These are THE people I would want creating content on my sites.

Not only that moderating my forums and interacting with my communities.

Tons Of Under Paid Under Appreciated Youtubers

Every time I search youtube for a hobby from guitar playing to vegetable gardening to home repair I almost always run into people with very nice youtube videos but not even a website.

If I were starting a content site today I would seek out these people and recruit them as content creators for my site.

Payment

I’ve never run a group blog or group content site however I’m sure payment is as simple as giving each the earnings from the pages they create.

Anybody else have experience with paying multiple authors?

No brainer

If I wanted to make a content site I would want to find people that naturally love the subject.

Many people on youtube are just those people. I would think of looking there for my next content creators.

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Basically if you have an idea to make money online and don’t care if people steal the idea than share it below
I’ll kick it off:

My Blog Is Worth

People love to know how much their blog is worth. There are widgets from a couple years ago that take wild guesses at it. When I post a speculation about blog’s worth they are usually popular posts.

The idea is to create your own widget on real data telling people what their blog is worth.

You will keep records of some sales of blogs every now and then. See what their metrics are and make a good figure of what a blog is worth.

Use that to update the widgets for everyone on how much their blog is worth.

Making money with My Blog Is Worth.

Once your widget gets bunches of traffic and eyeballs sending people to your blog worth website then you create a marketplace there.

You’ve got a site with tons of eyeballs with people interested in buying and selling blogs, or at least what they are worth. Charge people $20 or $30 (or more) to list their blog for sale there.

You could also make money with advertising or whatever.

Steal This Idea

That’s my idea for you to steal. Please get some good karma going for yourself and share an idea we can steal that you think might make some money online but you just don’t have the time to implement.

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Link Luv Post Builder is great for building a quick post for link cluster blogs. By including links to authority news sites, like CNN and ESPN, rather than just a small group of blogs and other sites it makes your link cluster blog look more legitimate.

This program can be used to assist with trend blogging by pulling in excerpts from various news sources and using this research to write your own unique articles.

Link Luv Post Builder can also help you get trackback links. When you post a link to another blog, it will in turn create a trackback comment on the blog you linked to in the post. This is, as you probably know, subject to the blog owner’s approval of trackback comment. Other blog owners will often reciprocate with links back to your blog in their posts. You will need to make sure that your content is of value for this to work well.

Lastly, Link Luv Post Builder can help you break writers block or spark new ideas for posts for your flagship or niche blog. Sometimes just seeing what other people are writing about a topic can help you get rolling.

Link Luv Post Builder is only $27. Frank is forgoing the ClickBank route with this program and passing the savings on to you. Similar programs sell for 2 to 3 times as much, even for ‘lite’ versions so this is a very good deal.

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Go here to check on Google Chinese, Google Japan, Google Indonesia.

Just few hours ago I was thinking about Google’s ugly logo, and now they have the new one. What do you think about this new Google icon guys? Is it better then the previous one? come on tell me your thought

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But how do you get to the top of the search results when you have to compete with every similar business on the Internet?

YOU DON’T!

You only have to compete with similar businesses in your AREA.

Think about this… Erin lives in SoHo and needs to make some color prints during her lunch break.

She hops on the Internet, does a search for “color printing SoHo,” and Google Maps shows a bunch of businesses in her neighborhood.

It even shows her where they’re located.

She prints out the map and heads off to get her copies done.

Erin uses the location name in her search because if she just Googled “color printing” she’d get millions of useless results.

So if you depend on local business, use those same location-specific keywords throughout your site.

You’ll get to the top of the search results for the specific market you’re aiming at. Easily!

Because most of your competitors won’t know how to “optimize” their websites to snag those local searches.

In fact, a letter I received recently from a chiropractor based in LA is the perfect example. He commented that he’s “getting terrible placement” for his clinic site.

Well, he doesn’t need to compete for his keywords with chiropractors all around the world, since he can’t treat patients everywhere. If he adds a geographic location to his website keywords, he’s only going to face competition from the other chiropractors in his area.

With a site targeted directly at his local market, this is one chiropractor who won’t be suffering from injured rankings!

3 easy ways to optimize your site for local search

So, what’s involved in getting top search engine rankings for the region you want?

1. Use “geo-keywords”

First, decide on how specific to be with your location. The smaller the geographic location, the more targeted your customers will be… although of course you will appeal to a smaller audience.

The chiropractor in Los Angeles would want to include “Los Angeles” and “LA.” But he’ll also have to say exactly where he is — the city, the neighborhood… even the street. People will use all those terms when they perform their searches.

And here’s a tip: When you’re deciding on the location keyword, think about how locals would search for it.

For example, Southern California is often referred to as “SoCal;” while residents of Port Coquitlam in British Columbia call it “Poco.” If you’re targeting locals, you definitely have to speak their language and use those keywords on your site.

Make sure you work your location keywords into your copy and code wherever possible. Use them in your headlines and subheads. And throughout your copy for extra impact.

One of the pages on your website should be a directions page, complete with a Google map.

By using location keywords often you’ll tell the search engines that your site is relevant for those words.

2. Display your address and phone number

Have your full street address on the footer at the bottom of each page and on the side navigation bar.

Include a phone number with a local area code. This will give the search engines all the information they need to nail your location.

3. Get inbound local links

Search engines reward you for having links pointing to your website from other reputable sites and organizations.

Local directories give you an easy way to build up your inbound links… and get your site seen by highly targeted groups of local buyers!

You can submit your site to:

Goog411 — http://www.google.com/goog411
Yahoo Local Business — http://listings.local.yahoo.com/signup/create_1.php
TrueLocal.com — http://www.truelocal.com/listabusiness.aspx
Switchboard.com Yellow Pages — http://www.switchboard.com
Ask Local — http://city.ask.com/city
MSN Local/Live Maps/InfoUSA — https://ssl.search.live.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx
CitySearch — https://selfenroll.citysearch.com
SuperPages — http://advertising.superpages.com/spportal
Internet Yellow Pages — http://www.yellow.com/advertise
Better Business Bureau — http://www.bbb.org/membership/index.asp
Chambers of Commerce — http://www.chamberofcommerce.com/public/index.cfm
Yelp.com — http://www.yelp.com
Most of these directories offer both free and paid listings. Test out the free service before upgrading to paid to see if it works for you without having to pay any further fees.

Don’t forget to look for other local directories and networks too. Search on “location name + directories” and see what comes up. More and more are appearing every day!

Here is a great resource for more information: http://www.locallytype.com/pages/submit.htm

Be search engine savvy when you’re filling out your listings. Whenever possible mention keywords, area names and product names so you can be found!

If your business is local, follow these 3 tips and watch your site blow away your local competition.

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1. AbiWord – A popular alternative to Microsoft Word, the source code for AbiWord was written very carefully in order to make it a flexible, cross-platform word processor. AbiWord is also available in many different languages, which widens its appeal.

2. Bean – This simple, user-friendly word processor was designed for Mac OS X users. It is a lightweight alternative for those who are sick of programs that try to appeal to Windows, Mac and Linux users.

3. KWord – KWord is a frame-based Word processor and desktop publisher that is perfect for both home and office users. You can create professional layouts with this simple and free program.

4. NeoOffice – This Mac OS X software is similar to OpenOffice, though it is tailored specifically to the needs of Mac users. An increasingly popular open source alternative, NeoOffice has a very supportive community.

5. NotePad++ - This free, lightweight software is an open source alternative to Microsoft NotePad. It supports many different program languages and can be used as a simple WYSIWYG editor.

6. OpenOffice Writer – This word processor is part of the most famous open source productivity suite, OpenOffice.org. This is a very robust program for both word processing and desktop publishing.

7. RoughDraft – This will probably appeal to bloggers, as the program was designed with writers in mind. Compatible only with Windows, RoughDraft boasts features that make it easier to format creative writing projects, such as novels and screenplays.

8. Scribus – A word processor and desktop publisher, Scribus is suitable for Windows, Mac and Linux users. With this software, you can create projects that are suitable for professional publishing.

9. WordIt – Smaller than Microsoft Word, yet more reliable, it is much easier to fire up this lightweight program for spell checking and PDF exports.

10. yWriter4 – Created by a novelist, this word processor makes it easy to organize large amounts of text. With yWriter4, you can easily lay out your large projects, novels and more. Everything is saved in RTF format, just in case you want to conduct some more editing with a different word processor.

Heather Johnson is a regular commentator on the subject of small business credit cards. She welcomes your feedback and potential job inquiries at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

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Recently I was coaching a client and the pungent question came up of just how much a platform needs to be niched.

By now the niching pundits have hit the drum hard enough that everyone knows what niching is and why it matters - the Web requires everyone to pick a specialty so they can be found.

If you’re a marketing expert, say, you’ll get lost among other marketing experts … UNLESS you are a marketing expert to lawyers, say, or mom-preneurs, or recently retired academics who want to start a web business.

But the question remains - just when do you stop tightening your niche? Often when I suggest to a consulting client that they need to go tighter, a certain common fear arises. What if I draw the niche too small? Won’t my market be too small?

The answer is yes and no, because it all depends on just which niche you’re plunging into … and just where you want to land.

First of all, you have to survey the landscape and see who else is out there doing what you do. If you Google ‘Marketing consultants’, for instance, you get 5,560,000 entries. That’s a lot. Look at the entries on the first page or two, and yep - there are many marketing consultants out there.

But if you Google ‘Marketing consultants for lawyers’ you get 365,000. Better. And yep, they are still mostly marketing consultancies working specifically for lawyers.

But then Google ‘Marketing consultants for women lawyers’ … well, then it all goes kaphlooey. The listings (and we’re talking about organic listings here, not those ads to the right) are mostly around an article or two that was written on the topic by an academic. Or really unrelated sites linked to women lawyers.

That would be a case, then, of over-niching.

Now I’m not recommending that you put all of your niching eggs in the Google basket. That needs to be only one of a few different considerations here.

If you’re working with me, I believe we have to go much deeper into that competition, learn more, and refine your offer more so you really stand out.

One way to do that is to consider what will bring you joy. What, in your gut, is a stand apart quality that defines you? What’s unique to your life that makes you you - that can also be applied to your business?

Note: No connection is too tenuous! The wilder the better because it’s ownable and memorable in a crowded niche.

Example: one of my clients wanted to create a coaching business in a very crowded corner of the field. We cast about a bit, looking for his unique hook, when he happened to mention casually he’s a world champion in his age group for a particular sport. World champion! That’s the stuff great platforms thrive on! We dug in and determined a way to fit that championship message into his overall philosophy and marketing message.

Another example would be Tuck Self, The Rebel Belle, who I love to talk about in my presentations. Tuck came to me with a desire to do motivational creativity coaching for clients — yet another crowded field. But all she had to do was hang on the phone a bit with her lovely South Carolina accent, and the answer was obvious - create a creativity coaching site that is a ‘Southern voice for bold self expression.” We named her the Rebel Belle, and she’s done gloriously with it.

It’s critical that your niche contain indelible pieces of you that no one can touch. Then you can niche within your niche - and still stand apart even in a crowded field.

Go forth and niche - and celebrate your full potential!

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