Newbie ..Plan Needed Please.

Don't think so much start learning and testing..

But not nearly as dangerous as trying to drive forward without all the thinking and learning first.

Most people screw up not (as is widely believed) through not taking enough action, but through not setting off in the right direction. If you're not setting off in the right direction, it doesn't matter how much action you take.

So you're asking good questions, but that doesn't necessarily make them easy to answer.

No - it carries absolutely no such inferences (in either direction) at all. What ought to be relevant to you, as the creator and vendor of a possible ornithology e-book is your ability to attract (i) customers and (ii) affiliates for it (and be aware that there's no (ii) without (i) coming first), not whether you happen to choose ClickBank as your retail outlet for the product.

Most people interested in buying an ornithology e-book haven't heard of ClickBank, and the fact that you might choose to use their facilities to host your payment page and process the sales has virtually nothing to do with your fundamental business plan and marketing plan.

Nobody ever buys a ClickBank product by "going shopping at ClickBank to see what's for sale there". They buy a ClickBank product through being targeted and nurtured as a "person already interested in the niche" and eventually being shown the product in the form of a recommendation - usually, for various reasons, in an email - from someone they trust. The fact that it's "a ClickBank product" doesn't enter their consciousness at all. Indeed, in the sense that you're talking about, it could even be said that there's no such thing as "a ClickBank product" at all: it's just not a meaningful concept to the customer.

Maybe ... we don't know enough about you (and in my case, I also don't know enough about the ornithology market potential) to guide you about that.

You'll need to be very good at that, as one of many "essential fundamentals" for any project of this kind.

No, I wouldn't expect that to be relevant, really. The only kind of traffic that relates to at all is "search-engine traffic" and your project certainly isn't going to stand or fall by that. That would be pretty much "the lowest of the low" among considerations, at the moment, for me.

I think you need to research the market, first. You need to be able to form as clear an impression as you can of whether there's a market for the kind of product(s) you'd want to produce.

Starting off an ornithology blog may, indeed, be one way of beginning to do that.

It depends on what sort of product(s) you're trying to sell to what sort of customers. My guess is "yes", but I don't know the niche/market.

You might be one of the exceptions, but my own opinion is that for most beginning marketers, most of the time, their prospects of earning any significant money through internet marketing are far better with affiliate marketing than with being a vendor. Here are just ten of my reasons for thinking this.

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I don't know anything at all about birdwatching - but is this a topic where people spend money? Is there a big enough demand for products in this arena?

My intuition tells me no.

I don't recall seeing any 'bird-watching' magazines - and that's a big clue that there's not a lot of money being spent in that niche.

My own personal opinion would be to shift slightly into a related field where there is a lot of money being spent, and that would be outdoor camping. You could still target those who watch birds, but you'd be in an area where money is being spent.

A blog/website are one and the same. The term 'blog' tends to emphasize more regular and continual posting of new articles, whereas a 'website' tends to hint at something that's static (in comparison to a blog) such as a company website.

But a website IS a blog, and a blog IS a website.

You'll want to build a website that has regular updated posts on the topics... so you could call it a blog. You'll want to direct people to join your list - so that you can email them regularly... and given the opportunity to connect with the same people over and over on a topic of interest to them, you'll have the chance to sell them an ebook you've written.

If you're unsure of everything, you could start with a free website, such as on Wordpress.com or Blogger.com (and a number of others) and see if doing this is the right fit for you.

Then, if you decide to get serious, you'd be able to move your content to a real hosting site. (although, as far as traffic goes, you'd be starting fresh again...)

But - and only my opinion - the topic you suggest seems to me to be capable eventually of giving you some pocket money... and not the topic that could lead you to retire on the money you make.

So... hobby? Or business?

Of course, keeping in mind that I know nothing of the Bird-watching niche...

Am I right in saying that the way to go will be to ultimately aim for my own Website where I can pass across helpful info to my followers (assuming I get some) and also maybe use it to promote my eBook and then birding books/optics via Amazon Affiliate stuff and maybe even birding holidays and the like?
Yes, you are talking about building an authority website. I see a lot of people having difficulty starting internet marketing. They do not know where to start or how to start. And always afraid of not getting the traffic they want.

Since you are passionate about your niche, don't think of what you want to sell but think of what value you can give to your readers.

Or should I learn to do that before bothering to set up a Website ?
I would say just go for it and get the website created. Write some articles about your niche. don't just go all out selling ebooks on every post. But give value, maybe have articles about different birds? (just an idea)

Should I set up a Blog first or is doing that pointless if I have no Website to then direct people to ?
You will need a website/blog to have people reading your offers. Another way is to get a landing page and start collecting some emails. But If I were you I would create a blog and keep adding content onto it and watch your traffic increase.

I think my problem is that I need to know the correct order to do things so that I don't end up blogging for no reason or paying for a Website etc without knowing how/where to promote it.
I wrote a tutorial (i think I will update it seeing that many people don't know where to start) you can find it in my signature. Basically, get a domain > host > Wordpress > content > Aweber > email list > Autoresponder

List building .. Is this something you do once you have something to promote as it doesn't seem to make sense to me to have a long list of email addresses when you have nothing to promote to them ?
No. You need to start list building from day 1. Even if you don't have products to promote, build a relationship with your readers. Thats how you get them to pay. I mean would you buy a product from someone you don't know recommending it to you?

I wouldn't.

So get the email list and start talking asking questions getting feedback etc...

Let me know what you think of the tutorial and if I can improve it in any way

Hey!

My advice would be to start up a simple WordPress blog and start publishing now. Why waste time right?

Dedicated at least two days in a week to publish articles. Twice a week is not a bad start. Once you build consistency and get used to writing quality articles and generating more ideas then you can increase it to 3,4 or even the entire weekday - but that's for later.

The reason I am saying write blogs now is because the sooner you start the sooner you will start getting crawled and indexed.

What to blog about?

I would say start talking about your journey. Yeap. Just tell people what you are telling us. As time goes by and your blog gets out there other newbies would want to search for people who have walked the path they are trying to walk - and that would be you.

You can collect following from this, get organic traffic, do CPA, affiliate marketing, Adsense comes to mind.

Bottom line is - start blogging now and start talking about your ideas, struggles and solutions. It would be an invaluable resource to others who are also trying to learn.

Good luck!

Go to Amazon and type in bird watching. Find the most popular book and see if it has at least 50 reviews. If it does then you may have a niche with some potential, and you can dig deeper and see if that ebook is a viable way to go (along with other possible products that might be promoted along with it). If it doesn't, then I would not pursue it.

I just posted an article that might help.
Here. It will at least give you an outline of where to start.

If it's not already on ClickBank, that's a bad sign. So first, you have to see if there's a market for your birdwatching product.

(The "Big Year," a birdwatching comedy staring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson, indicates there probably is a market. Do a google search for birdwatching forums to find out)

As for the correct order to do things:

1. Find a birdwatching product that is already making sales.
   
   
2. If that product has an affiliate program, become an affiliate for the product and start promoting the product. (If there are no products -- a few products -- it's a probably a bad market)
   
   
3. Before you start promoting the product, set up an email autoresponder so you can build you're list while you're trying to figure out what's going to work in your market. (there is always something to sell, if the market is right)
   
   
4. Shift, fire, move. Try something. Keep doing what works. Stop doing what doesn't work. Shift your first marketing campaign based on the data you now have. Fire off a new campaign. Move forward after each attempt. Rinse and repeat. Shift, fire, move until you get profitable, or reach whatever result you're trying to achieve.
   
   
5. Once you know how to make the affiliate product profitable, then create your own product. Give your list first dibs so you can give them a deal and they can give you cash...and testimonials (you have to ask for the testimonials). Then do the same thing for your own product that you were doing for the affiliate product.

This really is a simple process. I know there's a lot of hoopla out there; however, you have to look at who's doing the talking.

Who is the authority/guru you want to mirror? Are they living the lifestyle you're seeking to attain?

What is the authority/guru actually doing -- day to day -- in their business?

Does the authority/guru have a staff, big marketing budget and/or strong affiliate connections?

These are important questions because the authority/guru is sharing results with you based on their particular resources.

The tactics they're teaching are not done in a vacuum.

If you don't have a staff, it's not realistic to try to produce the results of an authority/guru who does.

If you don't have a big marketing budget, it's not realistic to try to produce the results of an authority/guru who does.

If you don't have strong affiliate/jv connections, it's not realistic to try to produce the results of an authority/guru who does.

I'm sure you get the point.

I use an autoresponder and a hosting account. That's it. I lost a lot of time, money and ethusiam in the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey because I was doing ALL the things authority/gurus were teaching.

When you start looking at what the authority/gurus are actually doing compared to the life you want to live, you may see a huge disconnect just as I did.

The key is to take what they're teaching and make it work for the life you want to live...and disregard anything that doesn't fit in with your life game-plan.

Rainee

There are magazines for birdwatching. So, there is a market or an audience, to be more specific.

Check out Amazon for all birdwatching and bird-related products, books, and Kindle ebooks. Based on what you find, you may be able to determine where there is a need for more or better information.

Determine your niche >> buy domain > set up hosting for domain > set up autoresponder > determine products you will promote or create > join affiliate programs > compile list of keywords to target > create content > drive traffic to your offer > build relationship with subscribers > keep offering good-quality valuable content and products.

Visit the Warrior Forum often and use the SEARCH feature to help you find answers to your questions because any question you may have has been answered here hundreds of times.

Stay focused and take action using a proven method!

These are all great ideas and great comments - one thing I have learnt over the last couple of days is to stop thinking about doing something and just to do it.

People can spend far too much time trying to get everything right the first time.

DO exactly what you've said, take the above comments into acount, but most of all just start doing it. You can always change, update or improve what you have.

Hope this helps,

Frasser
Fiveinthemorningdotcom

Bro , from what you said you love watching birds. Ok, from your title 'Bird watching' if you want me to enjoy watching bird the way you do, have got to feel the way you feel; watching - not reading. in essence create a video of different birds and their lifestyles. from birth, growing up, feeding, hunting (like Eagle), learning to fly etc. if you want to create a book, then let it be on different ckinds of birds and how to have one at home - taking care of it. convince us why we should have birds at home and how to take care of them and probably the cost of owning one or how to catch birds. hope that helps


Michael