Post: #101

(12-17-2017 10:59 PM)Suits Wrote:  

(12-17-2017 10:37 PM)nomadbrah Wrote:  Suits, that's not the kind of mentality I expected from you. Would you object to buying a book or a course on programming?

It's a different sort of thing.

I tend to find it rather insulting every time someone uses a salesfunnel™ to convince me to hand over my money so that they can teach me how to use a salesfunnel to make money online.

My take-away when I see that is that my first salesfunnel™ project should be to create a salesfunnel™ to sell my salesfunnel™ system to help other people make money online using salesfunnels™.

Because if that's what the "experts" are putting their time into selling....

Couldn't this line of logic be applied to any sort of educational/info product? (Ie...Why teach how to pass the SAT if getting a good score opened so many doors for you?)

Some people enjoy imparting knowledge more than the actual doing. You see that a lot in fighting (many TOP coaches were journeyman fighters at best).

Altruism aside, education/info based business are easier to scale or turn into a subscription. That's why online marketers generally end up pursuing that kind of biz model.

You're right to be skeptical though. Most guys in the MMO niche have never made a penny online before proclaiming themselves gurus.

Post: #102

(12-18-2017 12:11 AM)Suits Wrote:  I'm more so referencing a pet-peeve of mine regarding Internet marketers who sell Internet marketing systems than commenting on this specific forum, which I know almost nothing about. If $99 a month gets you access to a guy who has had one success after another and a bunch of other like minded people, it's probably money well spend if you're trying to replicate their success.

You bet I have the same pet peeve

This isn't that though. I just checked their sales funnel, it seems to me they are very clear about what they're about. None of the standard "get rich quick" tropes.

I highly recommend it for those who want to try their luck at paid advertising (with affiliate products). It's worth the price imo just for the networking and meetups around the world.

Post: #103

I’m in the process of starting my own website/blog about motorsports. In short a documentation from a normal guy into a certified race driver. Race driver costs in the region of £300. With more for instructors license.

As a blog, I fairly frequently go to racing events so can produce fresh content for blogs purposes. Is it worth doing this under a corporate entity so I can put through related expenses as a company expenses. I’m not bothered if the company technically makes losses. As long as I have at least £1 in advertising revenue I can justify it as a business as the moment a profit starts to be made I can recoup that out after.

I have other possibly plans to go with this in the future.

So would anyone recommend a corporate entity?

Post: #104

That's really a question for an accountant bro.

Post: #105

(12-21-2017 03:51 PM)Ethan Hunt Wrote:  So would anyone recommend a corporate entity?

Not at first. Don't put the cart before the horse.

Focus on getting the blog profitable, and then worry about taxes and legal structures.

Sound like a good idea for a blog though if you have a passion for it.

Post: #106

Thanks for the advice.

I did decide to incorporate as incorporation only cost £12 and all related expenses I can put through this company. I'm competent enough with my account knowledge to be able to do this right now. If for whatever reason I have to fold I've only lost a small amount. Either way in the UK I'd have to notify HMRC when I first start trading within 3 months regardless whether private or corporate. Least as corporate my costs (and therefore losses) can be utilised in the future whereas as private I can't off set costs against my income as they are not related.

Post: #107

Hey guys, great discussion here.

I'm trying to wrap my head around two things:

1. Are there any other worthwhile ways to bring traffic to your site other than SEO and paid ads? Let's say you've started a niche blog from scratch, is sitting around fiddling with SEO and waiting to show up on the front page of google really the best way to start gaining momentum? I've heard some people recommend posting on Quora, Reddit, various forums (like this very thread), or even start a YouTube channel to feed people some freebies before leading them to your blog, but that could be a huge time suck. Worth it?

Specifically for you Kyle, I found your Harem online course interesting. Is that a standalone business, and if so, how do you market it? Or is it simply the final sale, funneled through your other websites (Ukraine Living, Eastern Europe Travel), and presented to loyal e-mail subscribers?

2. OP said he's pretty much outsourced content at this point and the site mostly runs itself. Theoretically, if I were lucky enough to find a competent and reliable writer from the start, is there any reason why I shouldn't just let her cook up all the content so I can focus on other stuff? There's tons of people on Fiverr that offer to do all the work for a niche site, starting from doing the research to picking a site, setting up the site and writing content...

I know, if they were actually capable of producing profitable niche sites, they'd be doing it for themselves, and not for others....

Thoughts?

Post: #108

(01-12-2018 07:20 AM)ProfessorCumbledore Wrote:  1. Are there any other worthwhile ways to bring traffic to your site other than SEO and paid ads? Let's say you've started a niche blog from scratch, is sitting around fiddling with SEO and waiting to show up on the front page of google really the best way to start gaining momentum? I've heard some people recommend posting on Quora, Reddit, various forums (like this very thread), or even start a YouTube channel to feed people some freebies before leading them to your blog, but that could be a huge time suck. Worth it?

Specifically for you Kyle, I found your Harem online course interesting. Is that a standalone business, and if so, how do you market it? Or is it simply the final sale, funneled through your other websites (Ukraine Living, Eastern Europe Travel), and presented to loyal e-mail subscribers?

2. OP said he's pretty much outsourced content at this point and the site mostly runs itself. Theoretically, if I were lucky enough to find a competent and reliable writer from the start, is there any reason why I shouldn't just let her cook up all the content so I can focus on other stuff? There's tons of people on Fiverr that offer to do all the work for a niche site, starting from doing the research to picking a site, setting up the site and writing content...

I know, if they were actually capable of producing profitable niche sites, they'd be doing it for themselves, and not for others....

Thoughts?

1. Guest posting is the way I'd do it, but it usually does require you have some posts up on your site so you look legit.

As far as my Harem course, it's all organic. I don't really market it to those niche travel sites through.

I try to keep things simple, but yes, it's all sold through the "Trouble" brand which I've been building for the last five years. In all honesty, I think it's my best product, but it sells the worst. Classic example of trying to bring something new to the market instead of just giving people what they need.


2. No, you won't find someone who can do all of that, specially on Fiverr. Research, design, and writing? Pick one and you might be able to find someone if you're lucky.

Post: #109

Could anybody recommend a FREE keyword search tool? All the ones I find on google either have a price or try to lure you in with a fake free trial.

Post: #110

^
https://backlinko.com/google-keyword-planner

see "STEP #5: (OPTIONAL): GET EXACT KEYWORD SEARCH VOLUME DATA"

Then supplement with
- KeywordTool.io
- https://keywordshitter.com/

Post: #111

Thanks dude.

Post: #112

Thanks Trouble! Good stuff you're doing. Keep it up!

Post: #113

I don't want to open an own thread for this question since it is likely to get little responses, so I figured here is where it fits in the best.

I was wondering whether anyone has looked into Telegram as a marketing channel and a way of building up your business?

I know in Western countries its almost nonexistent but here in Russia it's fairly widespread. I follow several Telegram channels myself although I don't really read them a ton. I was curious about how good of a tool it is for building a community and building your brand and whether anyone has experience with either doing or studying this.

There is for example a nightlife-focused Telegram channel in Moscow but it targets the underground/hipster scene and hence not that interesting for me. There's another one I follow that is focused on bars.

This made me think that there's probably a good chance I could use it for a location dependent business, aka instead (or complementing) an email list, you'd notify your followers via Telegram about events and stuff. You could throw in the occasional Instagram post and story for visuals. I'd keep this strictly to the people actually in Moscow since unlike tourists, they are unlikely to use Google to get information. Plus I'd expect people that actually have Telegram, and especially those who willing sign up to your channel, to actually check notifications for the most part. Unlike on Facebook where you just get spammed due to the amount of ads and bs.

Any input on this is highly welcome.

Post: #114

(02-16-2018 07:38 AM)icrus Wrote:  I don't want to open an own thread for this question since it is likely to get little responses, so I figured here is where it fits in the best.

I was wondering whether anyone has looked into Telegram as a marketing channel and a way of building up your business?

I know in Western countries its almost nonexistent but here in Russia it's fairly widespread. I follow several Telegram channels myself although I don't really read them a ton. I was curious about how good of a tool it is for building a community and building your brand and whether anyone has experience with either doing or studying this.

There is for example a nightlife-focused Telegram channel in Moscow but it targets the underground/hipster scene and hence not that interesting for me. There's another one I follow that is focused on bars.

This made me think that there's probably a good chance I could use it for a location dependent business, aka instead (or complementing) an email list, you'd notify your followers via Telegram about events and stuff. You could throw in the occasional Instagram post and story for visuals. I'd keep this strictly to the people actually in Moscow since unlike tourists, they are unlikely to use Google to get information. Plus I'd expect people that actually have Telegram, and especially those who willing sign up to your channel, to actually check notifications for the most part. Unlike on Facebook where you just get spammed due to the amount of ads and bs.

Any input on this is highly welcome.

Have nightlife promoters started using IG stories as a way to promote?

I think the answer to this might give you a good insight.

Post: #115

Not sure if you mean that as a rhetorical question but they do massively here, yes. Get constantly spammed with that stupid shit. The reason why I'm not using IG more is that I'm plain lazy and can't be arsed to film myself while I'm out. Arguably visuals are crucial for anything that's nightlife-based so that's not very smart but eh.

But for telegram I was more thinking of some kind of word-of-mouth promotion tool.

Post: #116

(02-16-2018 01:28 PM)icrus Wrote:  Not sure if you mean that as a rhetorical question but they do massively here, yes. Get constantly spammed with that stupid shit. The reason why I'm not using IG more is that I'm plain lazy and can't be arsed to film myself while I'm out. Arguably visuals are crucial for anything that's nightlife-based so that's not very smart but eh.

But for telegram I was more thinking of some kind of word-of-mouth promotion tool.

I'd say then if people are using IG to get nightlife business, telegram would probably work the same.

Personally, and I have no idea what the general market is on this, I really like the idea that you use Whatsapp or TG. Being able to talk to someone via text and see their face would be huge if I was looking for a host.

Post: #117

(10-28-2017 07:04 PM)VincentVinturi Wrote:  Great post, +1.

I've done a few niche sites in my time and some of them made decent money.

One was a ClickBank affiliate site that reviewed online singing courses. That one did about $500/mo.

Another one was an Amazon affiliate site that reviewed gaming headsets, which is a niche with an insane amount of buyer-focused long tail keywords.

They both got slapped by Google and lost all their income. The Amazon site got slapped with a manual review from Google. If you get one of those, good luck, your site is toast. I spent a ton of time writing articles myself and they were good quality articles and Google just pulled the plug.

So at that point I pretty much decided not to rely on an SEO only business model. So while I think niche sites are cool, you've got to realize that SEO changes pretty much monthly, and the tactics you used to rank for keywords can all of a sudden get your site deindexed, and all of your income can disappear overnight.

That being said, I still think it's a great business model if you play it smart.

Increasing competition aside, I've decided to go on the Amazon affiliate site route.
That being said it seems you can find some gold nuggets amongst a potential mindfield here.

While I'm stating the obvious, with the increasing competition of niches being occupied it becomes a zero sum game.

Additionally I don't want to depend on only one type of online income as mentioned on Kyle's pronichesite video tutorials on why you should diversify your income and my personal mantra to not put all your eggs in one basket.

(10-29-2017 12:04 AM)redbeard Wrote:  Excellent data sheet.

So I started writing a fuck ton, for practice. Hell the other night I zoned out and wrote 1800 words about NoFap.

Anything you write counts as practice. This forum post counts. Longform Facebook posts, FB group value posts, and even emails count.

.
.
.

Now, I use emails and Facebook as my writing practice AND lead maturation tactics.

Having an email list is crucial, especially if you're YOU'RE the face of the brand. You have to keep them warmed up and interested in what you have to offer.

Once you have a list, email them constantly. "Gurus" will argue over how much, but 3 times a week is a good starting point. Ben Settle (who I love) emails at least once a day. Remember this writing is also sharpening your writing blade, so do it often.

Cheers.
I would have thought writing for an email distribution list would be reserved for when your niche site has a few blog posts up and running.
Happy to be corrected.

I am in the engineering profession and I used to work in the public sector (civil servant for those from the US), constantly applying for new roles and it required a lot of writing to address the selection criteria for every application, 400 word limit for 5 to 7 questions.
Writing numerous words and tailoring is the easy part it's the experiences that I have to draw upon and the creativity that is the challenge to be honest.

(10-29-2017 04:14 PM)redbeard Wrote:  Check out Steemit

I'd say in order of priority (from lowest to highest)

3. Adsense
2. Affiliate sales
1. Own product sales

Going by the website if the main figure payout is shown in the equivalent of US dollars then that's very easy money and the author's crypto balance would be boosted significantly. I will test this once I write my first blog post on my own affiliate site.

I'm assuming own product sales are private label.
Considering Amazon is an ecommerce juggernaut I went with them for affiliate marketing but as mentioned earlier it can be a minefield.

(12-13-2017 01:28 PM)stefpdt Wrote:  For example, if you're promoting products from Amazon Associates, then it will be really difficult to turn a paid traffic campaign profitable. The commissions are too low.

Or worse from a second hand recount where someone got banned from being an Amazon affiliate because they attempted to pad out commissions by linking their site to Facebook advertising.
It is fine to simply post a link to an Amazon Affiliate site without boosting it.

(12-21-2017 03:51 PM)Ethan Hunt Wrote:  So would anyone recommend a corporate entity?

It would depend upon your circumstances.
In Australia I signed up for an Australian Business Number (ABN) because I've started running a dropship store recently and suppliers/wholesalers demand an ABN.
For dropshipping to the US from another country afaik you'd need an LLC on your behalf. I don't have any further details as I don't dropship to the US.

Income from another source say shares and savings interest would just count as income alongside a dayjob and be taxed accordingly as income as shares and savings interest do not count as a business nor would I require an ABN.
I would have to report all this to my accountant near the end of every financial year.

Post: #118

(01-13-2018 02:36 AM)This Is Trouble Wrote:  1. Guest posting is the way I'd do it, but it usually does require you have some posts up on your site so you look legit.

As far as my Harem course, it's all organic. I don't really market it to those niche travel sites through.

I try to keep things simple, but yes, it's all sold through the "Trouble" brand which I've been building for the last five years. In all honesty, I think it's my best product, but it sells the worst. Classic example of trying to bring something new to the market instead of just giving people what they need.

First of all, a big thanks for the datasheet.
I just launched my website and it reminded me of your main site, as it's not a blog, but a web based tool with subscriptions. For me it's pure quality, but it doesnt sell so far, as it's also "something new to the market".
I'm doing guest posting, backlinking on related forums and plan to use adwords a bit.
For the first month of your main site, what were the results in terms of number of visitors and money ?

Another idea that I will implement to make my product for desirable is to display a video in the index of my website like this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iChFEr38Nt0
It may be a show, but I was impressed on how it sells dreams, motivate people. Hopefully mine will do the same. Will keep you posted.

Post: #119

"For the first month of your main site, what were the results in terms of number of visitors and money?"

$0

Probably 0 visitors too.

I just started writing for the hell of it. No idea it would turn into a 6-figure business at the time.

It is always a poor idea to have this mindset that you KNOW your product is quality, but to be unsure if the market wants said product. It sounds like you are married to your idea, even if it's a bad one.

(Not saying yours is, but that's the underlying tone of your post -- you don't know if the market wants it.)

Post: #120

This is a stupid question, but how exactly are guys like ThisIsTrouble making money off these sites? From what I can tell there are no ads on his niche sites.

Post: #121

I thought Trouble's course was quite useful. A lot of tips you can't easily find digging around for free and you get to see him make a niche site yourself which always makes things way easier.

As for how he makes money, it's affiliate marketing. Link to a sales page, and if someone buys that product you get a cut. Some of his sites might have ads if I am remembering correctly.

Post: #122

(03-04-2018 01:08 PM)Krimson Killa Wrote:  This is a stupid question, but how exactly are guys like ThisIsTrouble making money off these sites? From what I can tell there are no ads on his niche sites.

There's ads all over the place.

Then you subscribe to the mailing list and you get an ad every day.

The skill set is copywriting and affiliate marketing, I suppose you could say, but lots of other areas of knowledge are involved as well. His course is fantastic, too, the affiliate marketing one, I don't remember what it was called.

If you want to learn copywriting, I suggest you subscribe to his newsletter, it's a great way to see how that part of copywriting is done.

If you want to learn affiliate marketing, look up his affiliate marketing course, the man is walking the walk, his stuff is solid.

Haven't seen any of his dating stuff, so can't comment on that, but his business stuff is fantastic, plus he's real easygoing, super driven, and a cool guy to shoot the shit with.

Highly recommend.

Post: #123

You guys are too kind. I really appreciate it. The course mentioned is at ProNicheSite.com.

The first 6 videos are totally free, and then a few times a year I open up the bigger course, where I set up group voice chats and actually mentor people through the process for several months (end of March is the next time).

But, to answer the question — well, the others are accurate. Affiliate marketing on the niche sites, and on Trouble I do a bit of affiliate marketing but it’s mostly my own products now, like PNS.

And I will say this:

I didn’t even know what “copywriting” was about two years ago. Nor did I know what affiliate marketing was when I started my blog originally. I could write some crappy sales letter by copying someone else’s and plugging in my story, but I was garbage.

But, I showed up every day and worked on it. That was the big thing that made the difference. For a while, it was just posting on my main ThisIsTrouble blog every day, or doing a podcast. Then it became doing the newsletter every day. But, since I left the corporate world in February 2016, I’ve made it a point to show up and do something everyday. I firmly believe that was what made the difference in the end.

So yeah, I’d say, if you want to learn the copywriting/brand building part of it, sign up to my list. If you want to learn the web design aspect, get yourself over to YouTube. And if you want to learn how to write good stuff, just starting doing it. Every day.

Post: #124

Niche sites with affiliate marketing is actually pretty simple stuff if you think about it. All you need is three things:

1) a product or a service you can be an affiliate for that has a juicy commission
2) enough eyeballs, aka traffic to your website
3) a convincing sales pitch inside the blogposts that make people click on the affiliate link

From my experience, the hardest part is getting the traffic. If you are just starting out, I suggest finding large Facebook groups in your niche and becoming an active poster in those groups. That can get you 1000+ visitors for every blogpost you share in those groups, depending on how many members they have. The problem is, that this method is not sustainable and it won't lead to many affiliate sales because those visitors have very low buyer intent. Instead, most niche sites will have to rely on search engine traffic, i.e. getting the right blogposts to rank high on Google and then putting the affiliate link in front of the eyes of people who have actively searched for a solution to the problem that you are offering within your blogpost. That's really the hardest part about this business model. Once you have a couple of good blogposts that rank high for a number of important keywords, it should be relatively easy to make a few hundred dollars per month.

I started my niche site in April 2017 as a little side project. Didn't make any money from it for more than 6 months. Didn't get any traffic from Google until November. Then in December a couple of blogposts started ranking high, including my best and most important post which contains an affiliate link to a product with a 40$ commission per sale. Suddenly traffic was there and I made a hundred bucks in December from affiliate sales. In January affiliate sales went from 100$ to 600$ (all from one single post) and I get about 100 daily visitors from Google now. I haven't written any new blogposts since last summer and I have probably invested less than 100 hours in total in this project. Unfortunately, the niche I picked is very limited in the amount of potential products that I can be an affiliate for.

Post: #125

(03-04-2018 02:53 PM)This Is Trouble Wrote:  And I will say this:

I didn’t even know what “copywriting” was about two years ago. Nor did I know what affiliate marketing was when I started my blog originally. I could write some crappy sales letter by copying someone else’s and plugging in my story, but I was garbage.

But, I showed up every day and worked on it. That was the big thing that made the difference. For a while, it was just posting on my main ThisIsTrouble blog every day, or doing a podcast. Then it became doing the newsletter every day. But, since I left the corporate world in February 2016, I’ve made it a point to show up and do something everyday. I firmly believe that was what made the difference in the end.

Haha, I didn't know what copywriting was either, then I took your pronichesite course, read through lots of CleanSlate's and BeyondBorders' stuff, pieced the pieces together, and landed a copywriting internship. Made my first $100 online 30 days after I first even realized what copywriting was.

It took me several years to become location independent via real estate. I would not recommend this route to the vast majority of people, it takes a certain personality and certain market conditions to achieve, and it's just not as replicable as web development and copywriting.

Then it took me like a year to make my first dollar in web development.

It took me about 6 more months to get offered my first remote web development position.

Now I'm aiming to be remote via copywriting (in some form) within the next 5 months or so, and even if I'm not, I plan on winging it from abroad anyway. Web development works fine for this, but you're limited to certain locations via wifi, and real estate works as well, but there's not enough to do all day since it's mostly passive, you make money while you sleep with real estate.

Appreciate the help getting the ball rolling on the copywriting part, Kyle. Hopefully other guys are able to take action as well.