What's better than getting free stuff? …

 … Good quality, really useful free stuff, that's what!

Over the years I've picked up numerous free tools and products that really are worth having.

Many of these items certainly helped me when I started my internet business when I had very little money to buy anything.

I've decided I'm going to set up a new section that lists all the free resources that I use or have used in the past that I believe you will benefit from.

Before I put them into the 'Free Stuff' section I will post a review of them explaining how they can benefit you.

So let's get cracking on a couple of neat, free products:

Recommended Free Resource - File Compression   

7 - ZIP

7Z or 7 - zip is a great alternative to WinZip.

Basically 7 - ZIP and WinZip will open your zipped files and allow you to send large files like powerpoint presentations or photos.

The difference is 7 - ZIP will open virtually anything. It's very efficient and very fast! I haven't found a folder or file that 7 - ZIP hasn't been able to open yet.

If you've already got WinZip and happy with it then stick with it.

If you would like to use 7 - ZIP instead, delete WinZip after you've downloaded it. There's no point having them both.

Unfortunately 7 - ZIP doesn't work on MACs. MAC users will need to use something like Zipeg. 

Recommended Free Resource - Multi Media Player

VLC Player 

The chances are if you watch a lot of videos you will have come across a number of files you can't play.

You're informed that you need to find a codec to handle them. Then it starts to get messy. You even can't find it or you have to pay for it. 

That's when you need VLC Media Player.   

VLC Player from VideoLAN is the most widely compatible multi media player available.

It is much like 7 - ZIP in that whatever media file you come across, the chances are VLC Player will be able to play it.

It can handle various audio and video formats including (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, …) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.

This little program sits quietly in the background for you to call upon quickly and effortlessly and only takes up around 32MB of your hard drive.  

If you know of any free resources that you think will benefit others, please drop me a line or fill in the comments box below.

~ Peter Tremayne

Wow, it’s been quite a while since my last post back in June!

Here’s why I haven’t posted a single article or created any new content on this blog or any of my other websites…

I took a mini retirement!

If you are familiar with Timothy Ferriss’s book ‘The 4-Hour Work Week’ you’ll understand where I’m coming from.

If you haven’t read the book then;

1. I highly recommend you do read it because it is absolute ‘must read’ and..

2. It basically means I’ve been away to different places and taken a long holiday (mini retirement) - 7 weeks off to be precise!

The most I did was to check my emails every now and again and reply to the odd customer support query. The rest of my time I spent in Southern Spain, Gibraltar and moving into my new beautiful home back here in the UK.

That’s the real beauty of running an online business that is mostly 100% automated. It allows you freedom to take time out to do the things in life you really want to do or need to do.

Since I went full time with my internet business in April 2006, this is the first occasion I’ve taken so much time off. But the experience has been beneficial in so many ways…

As well as traveling and moving into my new home, I also took the time to re-evaluate my internet business and decide what I really wanted to concentrate on in the future.

I made some big decisions and drew up a new ‘life plan’ i.e. where I want to be in 5 years time, doing what, etc.

Now I feel totally refreshed and eager to get started again! I’m just bursting with new energy, new ideas and new projects.

I also read a couple of great books that were recommended to me by other successful entrepreneurs.

That sounds quite a flippant statement ‘just read a couple of books’ because if you know me you’ll know it takes me ages to read a book … I’m talking anywhere from 6 months to a year!

But before I took my time off I made a pledge to myself to read at least 1 book from cover to cover before I returned to my business.

Well I not only read 1, I read one and three quarters! Just got 1 more chapter to read on the second!

The first book I read was 'The Magic Of Thinking Big' by David J. Schwartz. What a great book! I just couldn’t put it down and urge you to read this book as soon as you can.

I’m not going to turn this post into a book review (although I will write a review for you soon) but just trust me when I say “go and read it now”.

The second book that I’ve nearly finished is 'The E-Myth Revisited' by Michael E. Gerber. This has been a really enlightening read. The author explains the reasons why 80% of small businesses fail in their first 5 years and what you can do about it.

Again I’ll write up a review later, but it is another book that should be high up on your ‘to read’ list.

Even though I’m now back into the swing of things, I’m still going to read as many new books as I possibly can. In the future I want to be like those people you here about with a big library full of great books! (I have half a shelf so far!)

There’s a saying I heard somewhere that went “Rich people have big libraries, poor people have big TV’s.”

Obviously taking 7 weeks off is not an option to most people, especially if you work for someone else. But you can do something similar with just a few days off.

Spend some real quality time evaluating your business. How you see it progressing, if you really enjoy what you’re doing, if not, what would your ideal online business look like?

Take a broad look at all the aspects of your business. You may find that you are very happy how it’s going. You may think of some great ways to improve it. Or you may just decide to ditch the whole lot and start something new.

There’s nothing wrong with ripping up everything you’ve done up until now and starting afresh.

Here’s why … you won’t lose the knowledge you’ve attained so far.

In this game knowledge is power and once you understand how something works you can easily duplicate it or adapt it in a totally new project.

Sure you may lose your subscriber list, but it’s really not difficult to build another. Your new business will grow faster and become more successful because you will be more committed and enthusiastic. 

Having time off work can do wonders to your energy levels and your sense of perspective.

But don’t take time off and sit around worrying that you’re not making any money.

Use the time constructively. Read some internet marketing reports you keep meaning to read. Read some self improvement books like the ones I’ve mentioned here. Re-evaluate your life goals if necessary. Just make sure you use the time positively.

DO NOT feel guilty for taking the time off. Otherwise there’s no point in doing so.

I became a little anxious half way through my break that I hadn’t updated my blog. I was worried that my readers would think bad of me and that I was being lazy etc. etc.

But these concerns were self inflicting. You gotta remember, no-one really cares about your blog, your website, your sales page 'to that extent'. (No matter who you are - including Seth Godin!)

Sure when you make a good post, people comment on it and it makes you feel good. But on the whole no-one's going to lose any sleep if you never appear online again!

It’s a harsh fact, but true all the same. Apparently it’s a good idea to keep posting at least once a week so you keep the relationship with your readers. Who says? I’m sure you don’t think anything less of me now? Do you?!

Also since I’ve been away, I’ve actually added a further 245 subscribers to my list!

So there you have it. I’ve been away for 7 weeks and I’ve had a fantastic time! I’ve read a couple of great books, re-evaluated my business strategy and my life goals.

Now I’m back and bursting with energy and ideas. I feel like I’m a child again on Christmas morning!

I have lots to share with you and hopefully you’ll enjoy my future posts.

Cheers!

~ Peter Tremayne

Last time we spoke about choosing a niche that will keep you interested for the long haul and make your online business an enjoyable experience.

Now is the stage where you need to research your top keyword phrase in that niche and evaluate if there is money to be made from it.

Don’t be surprised to find that the first few topics on your list aren’t suitable to build an online business around.

It may take 5, 6, 7 or more researched niche topics before you find a winner. Don’t get despondent and don’t settle for one that is half way suitable.

Stick with the process, even if it takes you a few days and you WILL find a profitable niche.

That’s why this stage is so important.

Unfortunately most new internet marketers won’t take the initial, sometime laborious steps to thoroughly research their chosen topic.

They end up starting a business that they enjoy working on but doesn’t actually make them any money!

I will continue with our hypnosis market that I chose last time and the keyword - "hypnosis to quit smoking".

This has 64 daily searches and 28,000 competing sites on Google.

If you remember, the bench-mark I go by is a minimum daily search of 50 and no more than 75,000 competing sites. This isn’t a scientific method but it seems to work for me.

At this stage we don’t know if the people searching for ‘hypnosis to quit smoking’ are willing to spend money to find out if it works or not.

That’s where we need to do further digging.

The first thing to do is go back to our Google page and take a look at the paid ads on the right hand side.

When people spend money on paid ads, it usually means that there is money to be made.

As you will notice, there are over 30 paid ads!

This is a good sign.

If so many advertisers are paying premium rates it is a good indication that people are spending money here.

But this is not the only indicator.

Let’s go back to Google and this time look up "hypnosis to quit smoking" + books and see what we get.

Again, there are lots of websites advertising both physical and digital books and shows that people are willing to spend money on our key phrase.

However, we’re still not done.

The next step is to see if any hypnosis books are being sold digitally. Unless we’re planning on creating a hardcover book and having it published (not an easy task) our best bet is to create a digital product or act as an affiliate.

If you’ve chosen a topic that you have lots of knowledge about, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t create your own report/book to sell directly from your own website.

We could already see from the search term that digital products exist, but the best place to know for sure is at Clickbank.

Whatever your views are about them, they are the biggest and the undisputed heavyweight champ of the digital products empire. 

The Clickbank marketplace can be found here.

http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace.htm

What you want to do is type in the word ‘hypnosis’ next to ‘keywords’ and click on the ‘go’ button.

There are over 50 digital products based around hypnosis! That is a massive amount!

Here’s some of the first page results:

Okay, let’s take a look at a couple of things.

For one thing, the commission on these books is very good.

The first one is obviously the market leader and even has a high, recurring commission plan.

In addition to that, the gravity of the top products are also very encouraging.

Okay, let’s explain gravity:

Gravity is the average number of affiliates promoting a product and making money from it.

The top product has a gravity of around 80, with the second product being a respectable 37.

But even more encouraging is the number 5 and number 9 products that mention hypnosis and smoking.

This is a good sign. This tells me that there’s a big market for ebooks in this niche and even more specifically a market for ‘hypnosis to quit smoking’.

So it’s looking very promising that we could enter this niche and make some good money from it.

This research would be enough for me to go forward with it and start building a business around the ‘hypnosis to quit smoking’ niche.

Still, if the topic was border-line, there is further research we can carry out before we determine one way or another if it is something we should consider or not.

So the next thing we look up at Google, is forums.

Why forums?

People who are interested in any particular topic, regardless of what it is, will often seek out forums where the topic is discussed.

Now, the reasons for going to these forums vary, which is why you actually have to go to them to see what the members are talking about.

In some forums people just engage in mindless chat. In others, they go for specific information on the topic and even go with an open mind to spending money if it would solve their problem.

But the only way to find out is to actually visit these forums and observe the things that the people there are talking about.

To find out, go back to Google and type in "hypnosis to quit smoking" + forums and see what comes up.

There are tons of hypnosis forums. I don’t expect you to check out each one, but this is the first one that appeared towards the top of the search results.

www.richardmackenzie.co.uk/forums.htm

If you go there, you will see that the forum is active and even has a sub topic for book reviews!

If you go to the sub topic - book reviews, you will find a dozen threads discussing various books, recommendations etc.

The forum doesn’t actually contain any solutions to our problem or gives us enough information so we don’t need to buy a book on the subject.

And this is the sort of information you need to look for when reading through forums in your niche.

To Sum Up

So let’s do a full analysis and see if we can come up with an educated guess as to whether or not this niche would be worth pursuing.

1. 64 searches per day and only about 28,000 competing sites. This is a PLUS.

2. Over 50 Clickbank products that are selling well with high commissions. Another PLUS

3. Many active forums on the subject but not providing enough information or a solution to our problem. This is a PLUS.

4. Dozens of paid ads at Google, which means people are spending money in this niche. This is a PLUS.

If you take all these into account, you’d be inclined to think that there’s a good opportunity here. The evidence certainly looks promising! And this would be my analysis of the niche.

If I was advising somebody on this niche, I would tell that person…in my professional opinion…it should make a good online business.

As far as I’m aware this opportunity still exists - in case anyone had an interest in the hypnosis niche! ?

You will notice that we did an awful lot of work to determine that one keyword phrase in the hypnosis niche could result in a promising business.

Equally this research may have shown us that the keyword "hypnosis to quit smoking" should be avoided.

If this was the case we wouldn’t abandon the niche altogether as there are dozens more of these phrases in the hypnosis niche to go through and the next keyword could be a winner.

For each keyword phrase that you think looks promising, you have to go through this same process. This is why niche research is so time consuming and so closely guarded by others.

If a person DOES find a niche that is profitable, don’t expect him to share it with others unless he plans to sell the research for the niche.

Anyway, there you have it. That is the basic process for researching a niche.

There are other things you can do, but this is as detailed as we need to go in order to determine a winner or a non-starter.

If you’ve managed to get to the end of this post, well done you!

Here’s something that might interest you..

Since last weeks post entitled ‘Researching Your Hobbies and Interests – Part 1’, this blog (The-Profit-Club) is now on page 2 of Google for the keyword ‘hypnosis to quit smoking’!

That’s without any SEO tactics or a dedicated website built around that phrase. Do you not think it will be very easy to get a website ranked on page 1 by applying a few simple SEO techniques?

Remember there are 64 searches a day just on that 1 keyword phrase and I managed to get a page 2 position without even trying.

That’s the power of targeting long tail keywords and why there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t build a successful online business if you do your homework.

Would love to hear any comments/thoughts/ideas etc? Drop them below..

~ Peter Tremayne