How to Make Money from Gamers (Simple Method)

I'm going to show you a simple method to make money from gamers.

First: Some background

I suggested this method (without sharing all the details) in a post yesterday. This morning I woke up to a lovely private message from someone wishing for me to elaborate. I'm in the business of helping people make money, so I was happy to do so. What follows is the method, rewritten for anyone else who may be interested. Does it work? It most assuredly does. In fact, I know from personal experience, it has the potential to make you several hundred dollars a day. What's really great about it, though, is you can rework the method for any industry. After all, not only gamers want to make money from their hobby.

Okay, down to business.

General Idea

What if you could make money from a hobby? To most people this is a pipe-dream. Think about it: making money from something you love, something you do all the time, and something that usually costs you money, not the other way around. Well, what we're going to do is make this dream a reality for gamers. We're going to write a paid e-book to show them how to profit from their passion for gaming. And, in so doing, we'll be earning an income not only from the sales of our e-book, but from the affiliate links inside.

Tools

You can get some of the tools for free.

You need word-processing software that can export in PDF format. I recommend Word or, a great free option, Open Office.

To make your e-book cover, inside screen captures, and logo, you need an image editor. I use Photoshop, but I believe there is an older version of Photoshop provided by Adobe for free, or you could use GIMP, also free.

A newsletter is required for this method and, while I know free software exists, may I strongly recommend Aweber.

I'm assuming you'll already have hosting. As well as this, of course, you'll need a catchy domain name. Either go for an EMD or, and I find this works better, choose a short, catchy, descriptive domain. Something that spells out that you want to teach gamers how to make money.

Lastly, you'll need to purchase an e-junkie account. It's been a long time since I joined, but I believe they give you 7 days for free and I think you can host 10 products for 5 bucks a month.

The Method Used Inside the E-book

You have your tools, now time to write the e-book.

Now, to most of us experienced and even semi-experienced internet marketers, the method you'll be teaching gamers is easy-peasey lemon-squeezy.

And here it is . . .

You're going to show them how to build a niche gaming blog, link to affiliate offers, and drive oodles of game-hungry traffic to that site while simply doing something they love: talking about gaming and playing games. The idea is to make each aspect of their business fun. This is a hobby about a hobby that makes money.

Niche

They should choose a niche they're passionate about. It could be MMORPGs, or it could be a micro niche within that category: horror-themed MMORPGs, modern-day MMORPGs, and so forth. They don't have to worry about SEO and ranking; too complicated and not required. Just have them choose a subject they enjoy. Remember: keyword is fun.

Domain

Through your domain registrar affiliate link, advise them on domain name choice. Ensure the name is specific to the niche, short, and simple to spell and remember. HorrorMMORPG dot com, for instance. Peerfly pays $22 for a Godaddy referral.

Hosting

They need hosting, obviously. Sell them hosting. You can earn anywhere from $40 and up for this.

Wordpress

Explain how to setup WordPress on their new host. Here is where you'll need to use plenty of screen captures. It's complex stuff for a newbie. One method I use for layout is a top 10 list on the home page, a blog, and several pages that review each of their listed games.

Design

They can use a free WordPress theme but, to get better conversions, make more money, a premium theme is advised. Sell them on to Theme Forest who pays you 30% per referral.

Setting Up the Blog to Make Money

Use no advertising and simply link each of the reviewed games to an affiliate offer. Suggest to them free offers, which pay anywhere from a buck to $2.50. There are dozens of sponsors for this, but I won't recommend because we'll all be doing the same thing. Easy enough to find though. AND . . . this is another way for you to profit. Most affiliate networks will pay you 5% of anything your referrals earn.

Back to profit. All they have to do is write reviews about their favorite games and link to the affiliate offers. And, since they could be writing about F2P games, free-to-play, they should be earning money lickety-split and, once they begin driving traffic, that money should be coming in on auto-pilot - while they sleep, hey, even while they play games.

How they Get Traffic

It's no point suggesting complex traffic generation ideas. These are not stupid people, though; they simply aren't internet marketers. So give them simple, yet effective means of getting traffic. You want them to make money, after all. I mean, for one, it would be unethical not to help them do this. They've paid good money and should get what they deserve. But, remember, they've joined affiliate networks through you. Imagine getting 100 referrals making even a small amount each month. They're happy with this amount, and some will make a lot more, and you're happy too, because it mounts up!

Youtube

They should produce niche gaming videos. Lots of competition here, true, but not if they choose low hanging fruit and optimize their videos.

Have them make videos which are a combination of gameplay and live action talking on their part. They should talk about the game and reference more information on their site as well as a free join link (call to action). These videos work really well.

They can use the YT Keyword tool or Google Adwords Planner tool, or whatever else you care to suggest. Have them find low hanging fruit for their chosen niche. To optimize (and I'm keeping this basic, just so you don't bore or lose them):

1. Keyword in Title
2. Keyword as filename
3. Keyword in tag
4. Keyword density at 1% in description. 300 words: keyword at start, middle, and end.
5. Site page link at the top.
6. Video link at the bottom.

Video link explanation: This is actually something you might not know yourself. When you throw your link to the video at the BOTTOM of that video, you help with your optimization. People embed videos and descriptions. When they do, in many cases, you're getting worthwhile linkbacks.

Forums

They chat on forums. Why not make money chatting? Wa-hey! They should make an attractive signature file to their review blog. Gaming forums are actually not nazis when it comes to this, so your readers will have no problem.

Yahoo Groups

There are many Yahoo Groups related to gaming. The beauty here is that when you post, your message gets sent to - or can be sent to - thousands of recipients. Just keep it ethical. Join a community, contribute, and use a signature below your posts.

Pinterest

Create a Pinterest account and begin pinning like a mad thing, linking to your site. Have them create a board for each game and then several boards relating to their overall niche, and more still about gaming in general. Just don't suggest they be too promotional. Suggest a 3:1 ratio for pinning. 3 regular pins or repins for every 1 pin related to their site.

Facebook

They need a Fan Page. Each update should contain an image and the update itself should be maximized to span the page. Looks attractive and receives more attention. Obviously purchasing advertising is the most effective way to grow, but cheaper ways involve Fiverr gigs. Of course, free is also an option: joining other pages under their own page and contributing, inviting gamer friends, encouraging those friends to invite their friends, spreading the fan page link on Youtube, forums, groups, and other networks.

Other Traffic Sources for Them:

- Twitter
- Social Bookmarking (also another upsell for you if you suggest software)
- Yahoo Answers
- Email Signatures when chatting to friends
- Other video sharing sites (like Daily Motion)
- Guest Blogging

Money

Most of these traffic types will begin to send them traffic on auto-pilot. And the more they do them, and enjoy themselves, the more traffic they'll get. Since they're promoting free offers, getting an average of 5 free signups a day is easily achievable. And at an average of, say, $1.50 a signup that's approximately $45 a month with little effort.

As time goes by, that figure will only grow. When they've got a stable income stream, suggest to them implementing PPS signups and trials.

Since they've only spent a few bucks on hosting and a domain, and perhaps, say $25, on a theme, they'll be earning far more than this each month before long.

How this Makes YOU Money

Set the price of your e-book anywhere between $4.99 and $9.99. That's the sweet spot. This is just enough to be affordable and yet enough to ensure prestige pricing: in other words, the material you offer appears good because the price reflects quality. It also has another benefit, if someone pays this much, they've signaled a willingness to spend.

Which brings us onto (or back to) the second way you make money: affiliate up-sells. Aside from the e-book, you can earn from domain, hosting, theme, affiliate referrals, and software referrals.

Making Money in the Long-Term

This is where Aweber comes into play.

You should create a squeeze page that encourages gamers to join your newsletter about how to make money from gaming. They're going to receive free tips. Just ensure your tips are not remotely as good as those in your e-book.

Every once in a while, talk about your e-book. The easiest way to do so is to mention how you've updated it or you've been sent another great testimonial and you want to share it with your subscribers.

Getting Traffic

You can use the same methods as outlined for gamers. Here are some others, though:

1. Optimize Pages for Low Hanging Fruit
2. Setup Google Alerts and Reply to them
3. Drive Traffic to FB with their Advertising
4. Purchase Traffic from other Ad Networks

The quickest and easiest way though is to make videos and post on forums. Almost every gamer would love to turn their hobby into something that earns extra money. Just remember: you're not promising to make them rich, this is fine; you're giving them an effective and fun method to earn a nice little income by doing something they already do. If you're going to play games, why not make money as well? At the very least, you can buy MORE games!

Thanks for Reading

I hope this helps some of you. As of now, the gaming market is wide open for you to profit from this method. And, knowing how bright you gentleman and ladies are, I'm sure you'll put many clever spins on it. And, remember, as I mentioned earlier, this is only gaming. Can you think of other hobbies that can be turned into a business? This is such a good selling point. Have fun doing something you love AND make money from it!

Thanks for reading and good luck!!