Finding my place in the IM niche?

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Synnuh

I just don't know what I can teach people in IM that isn't already available and I'm having problems pulling together my own experiences into a blog that isn't scattered across the board. And I don't want to pimp some "$2000 per day system in only 2 hours per week"

With your ability and experience you might want to pay attention to
what one successful internet marketer wrote and who publishes on
a variety of subjects....

"When people come to the internet to earn an income, 95% head straight
to the how to make money on the internet niche, which is why 5% make
the most money".

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Synnuh

8 years ago

It's early for me so my brain can't completely digest, but you're suggesting being spread out would be a good thing?

That wouldn't be a problem, really. I just figured it would be spread too thin and couldn't really target a specific visitor without a lot of segmenting the traffic.

I'm still pulling blanks on the angle to take, or if it actually needs an angle and I shouldn't just start writing tutorials.

Thanks

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Riki Stein

8 years ago

I know this isn't the most brilliant and creative idea, but can't you start by teaching people exactly how you've been successful in the other niches? If you've made money in it, you can teach others how to as well. Sounds like you have experience in a lot of areas.

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Jen Eick

8 years ago

So what's wrong with:

How to build 450 niche sites?
How to hire/outsource?
How to retain good outsourced staff?
Creative ways to scale campaigns?
How to come back after failure?
How to overcome a lot of personal obstacles?
How to make $$$ freelance writing & get clients?
How to make $$$ blogging, email marketing, and link building?

I would think any of these strategies could potentially be valuable for thse looking to make money but don't know how to implement these strategies.

Originally Posted by Synnuh

At the beginning of the year I told myself I'd focus on the 4 main areas of life: getting paid, getting laid, having fun, and living longer.

I've gotten projects launched to help nerds get laid, help dudes have more fun, and help men get into yoga and natural health (living longer).

My problem is I can't figure out how to set myself apart in the IM niche so I can help people get paid. I'm missing the 4th piece of my business and it's started to frustrate me.

The commissions on things such as hosting ($150 - $200) and autoresponders (33% recurring) are too big for me to ignore, and I've been at it since 2007 with actual successes under my belt -- so I'm not some dude trying to take it til I make it.

I just don't know what I can teach people in IM that isn't already available and I'm having problems pulling together my own experiences into a blog that isn't scattered across the board. And I don't want to pimp some "$2000 per day system in only 2 hours per week" bs.

Some of the skills I've got are:

built 450 niche sites
hired over 200 people in 4 years
kept 22 employees
see creative ways to scale campaigns
I've failed and come back
and overcome a lot of personal obstacles
freelance writing & client work
blogging, email marketing, and link building

I've spent the year learning email marketing and copywriting, and am doing OK with it so far. I'm also blogging, and setting up niche sites again.

So I'm reaching out to get some creative juices flowing, if you could help me I'd be greatly appreciative.

I want to be myself and use my own experiences, so the writing is 100% natural and engaging. Figuring out how to turn my skills and experiences into content people want to read is the problem right now. ;/

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Synnuh

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Jen Eick

So what's wrong with:

How to build 450 niche sites?
How to hire/outsource?
How to retain good outsourced staff?
Creative ways to scale campaigns?
How to come back after failure?
How to overcome a lot of personal obstacles?
How to make $$$ freelance writing & get clients?
How to make $$$ blogging, email marketing, and link building?

I would think any of these strategies could potentially be valuable for thse looking to make money but don't know how to implement these strategies.

You make a good point when they're worded like that. Hmm. I figured since it was all in the past, I couldn't really rely on it these days.

I'd felt like if I relied on them I'm "faking" it since I'm not using some of those skills in my business today. I don't have any employees right now, my life doesn't really suck anymore, and I'm working away from dealing with clients.

They're still skills, though. I'm getting the idea now, but I'm going to let this run for a bit more to see what else comes up.

Thanks Jen, Riki & RP for the help so far

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Synnuh

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Riki Stein

I know this isn't the most brilliant and creative idea, but can't you start by teaching people exactly how you've been successful in the other niches? If you've made money in it, you can teach others how to as well. Sounds like you have experience in a lot of areas.

I could, but the business model I used to be so successful tanked in 2012.

It's really hard to reliably pull the trigger on a niche site these days, and even harder to teach a newbie how to do it without them thinking I'm trying to rip them off -- or me actually feeling confident they can pull it off.

Now I'm just a normal blogger, list builder, and link builder. That's why I'm having problems setting myself apart from the pack.

Thanks
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Riki Stein

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Synnuh

I

Now I'm just a normal blogger, list builder, and link builder. That's why I'm having problems setting myself apart from the pack.

If you're finding success in these areas, you can still teach those.
Do any of these skills make you money?

And btw, even though building successful niche sites changed drastically over the years, there are still people who are making money with it - they just learned the new ropes.

Most of what you still know is probably still valid today. You can adapt as well. Try it for yourself - if it works, teach it.

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Synnuh

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Riki Stein

If you're finding success in these areas, you can still teach those.
Do any of these skills make you money?

And btw, even though building successful niche sites changed drastically over the years, there are still people who are making money with it - they just learned the new ropes.

Most of what you still know is probably still valid today. You can adapt as well. Try it for yourself - if it works, teach it.

Yeah I'm making more now than I have in the last 2.5-3 years.

I'm starting to see the blog's categories:

- Mindset
- Link Building (SEO)
- List Building
- Blogging Tips
- Email Marketing
- Niche Sites & Niche Research
- Scaling & Flipping
- Outsourcing
- Running the business
- Paid Ads
- Free traffic

That seems like Pat Flynn, other than having my own personal experience. I think coming from the "niche site mindset" is my biggest issue. Seeing how I can be different.

I'm used to picking 1 super-tight topic and dominating it, then moving on. It wasn't this hard in the other 3 markets I picked out. ;/

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kilgore 8 years ago

Instead of trying to teach your skills, why don't you focus your time into actually putting them into use? My guess is if you do that you'll (a) make more money and (b) help more people than you would selling even good information to the 95% of people trying to make money online who will fail no matter what information they have.

I remember a few months ago there was a thread about some IM Guru (I can't remember his name since I don't really follow those guys) making $1 million in a year. That sounds great, but consider (1) that was his gross earnings and (2) he's an outlier among outliers. And while making a cool $1 million per year isn't something to sneeze at, if that's the top of the top, it's actually not all that impressive. For instance, compare his earnings with the biggest book affiliate site I know, GoodReads.com. They were bought by Amazon.com for an estimated $150 million. And I'm sure there are many other examples like that in numerous other niches outside of IM.

Now granted, you're probably not going to start the next GoodReads. But I doubt you're going to be the next $1 million/year IM Guru either. And in addition to having a relatively low ceiling for earnings, IM niches seem overly crowded and competitive -- at least to me. That's why I personally don't touch IM niches -- I know that I can make a lot more money elsewhere.
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Synnuh

8 years ago

My time is spent putting them to use in 3 other markets. You make good points though, and a big reason I've stayed out of the IM niche this long.

I've put my skills to use in IM so far helping clients get started, which is why I want to teach. I just don't want to trade my time teaching them, and have to start over with every new client or every new project that lands on my desk.

As far as earnings ceilings go, out of the 4 markets I'm in, it is the highest potential that I'm going to play in.

The competition is sort of what's drawn me to it, to prove to myself I can compete with top level guys.

A million a year in sales is OK with me right now. Especially for writing about something I love and am involved in every day.

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Steve B

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Synnuh

I can't figure out how to set myself apart in the IM niche so I can help people get paid.

You can't teach people something you don't know. If you don't want to be like so many wannabes that try to fake their way to income selling IM instructions, then either learn IM and figure out how to make money before you try to teach others . . . or . . . get out of the IM market and into something that you already understand. The chances of your success in getting paid are much greater outside IM.

Steve

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Synnuh

8 years ago

Steve, you didn't read the thread. ;/ I'm not a newbie lol

Some of the skills I've got are:
built 450 niche sites
hired over 200 people in 4 years
kept 22 employees
see creative ways to scale campaigns
I've failed and come back
and overcome a lot of personal obstacles
freelance writing & client work
blogging, email marketing, and link building

Now I'm focused on blogging, building an email list in 3 (possibly 4) markets, and building more niche sites when the mood strikes. The goal is to replace my client work completely, and let me get back to making money without directly trading my time for it.

I think I've gotten what I need. I'm going to brainstorm a bunch of topics and see which ones have the least information available for them, or the ones with the most regurgitated crap, and start attacking it from that angle. Replace it with actual data and case studies.

I'll start with teaching list building using free traffic, then work into buying ads. It seems like where most beginners start out. People able to buy ads would be a higher quality visitor, IMO so I'll work into it.

Then teaching them to set up a blog to increase the free leads, and using link building / SEO for more free traffic.

Using the data I've already got as case studies, just debating about going public with the sites to jump start getting people to talk about me, or not.

Thanks

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