I can't find the answer.....so I thought I'd just ask.

Well, you know what they say about opinions right? There's the answer to your first comment about everybody disagreeing. My advice along those lines is to figure out who is already successful. They're usually the ones that know what they're talking about.

About your question of what site to use: I would have answered this differently 2 years ago and said to have many sites but in this new world of web saturation and deep-pocketed dominance, combined with a G company that is so particular, "it" doesn't even know what it wants, I think your best bet is to pick just one or two websites and focus on them intently. Work it like there's no tomorrow. We have several (hundreds) but I'm only focusing on 4 or 5 right now.

I hope this helps just a bit. Good luck!

You have a lot of questions, and frankly, i didnt read all of your post, it was a bit long winded.

But you seriously cannot go wrong creating good, beautiful sites.

1) Choose a niche where there are lots of products people buy.
2) Research your comeptition (Who are currently making money ranking for terms).
3) Copy them all if possible (add your own voice).

This will usually mean writing a lot, or creating lots of content in some form. This could be anything from inciteful articles, tips, product reviews, comparisons etc.

That will keep you going for at least 3 years and make you a full time income if you choose the right niche

As a fellow Internet Marketer & Blogger, I can tell you right now that you should not waste your money on IM products no matter how good it sounds. Anything that you can pay for, you can find a free equivalent on the internet on YouTube, Blogs, or courses on Udemy. Don't waste your money buying products, you will regret it later on! With that said, good luck!!!

A blog or some form of content management system is just an easy way to get content online...most people have them in place of a traditional website because they are easy to use for people without "technical" skills. Most affiliate websites are blogs in fact. However, if you had an e-commerce store then adding a separate blog might be appropriate as the pages of an e-commerce store are made to sell products rather than connect with the target market/audience. From what you have said, I would just add your content as a blog...if you need specific pages, wordpress and most cms let you create them too.

I've been successful in a few different niches from model helicopters, kart racing, race car sponsorship, personal development and internet marketing. There are a number of ways to make your quality content available (including affiliate links).

- Uncover a problem your customer has and solve it with an eBook - Give it away through a squeeze page and include affiliate links in it.

- Create a Blog focused on your expertise and put your content on the blog. Put your blog address in your signature file of the forums you participate in within your niche. You can also have affiliate links in your blog posts and on your website (recommend Wordpress)

- Email the people on your list with quality content regularly. Only throw in a product recommendation or affiliate link once out of every 5-6 emails or they will opt-out quickly.

- Create a product that solves a problem in your niche. The product can be an eBook, Membership site, Newsletter, CD's, etc. etc. - Charge people for the product. In this case, the quality content is in the product.

- Many more, but you get the idea.

What Steve said. Your writing is intelligent, clear and concise (and humourous). If you want quick cash, turn to the dark side and find the desperate buyers markets. You'll make a pretty penny quickly, but you might hate yourself for doing it.

Then, there's the straight and narrow road where you'll.....

Original content is basically anything you create on your own or have someone create on your behalf.

So blogs, websites, articles, videos, podcasts, info products, ebooks, etc...even tweets are technically original content but I wouldn't count the tweets only if you're trying to make a living...lol.

Once you create your content you thoughtfully disperse it throughout the internet in an attempt to put it in front of the people in the world who are interested in what you create.

You can add this content to a blog, website, youtube, article directory, etc.

After you have people seeking your content, this can be subscribing to your youtube channel, returning to your blog or site, looking for more of your articles, subscribing to your podcast, etc., you can find ways to monetize whatever you're doing.

Monetizing your content can be putting ads on your blogs, links in your articles, adsense on youtube, advertisers on your podcast (or funneling your listeners to your site), etc.

Once you learn how to do the things above, you can make a living online by producing content...whatever that content may be.

Others might disagree but I think it's important to at least have a blog no matter what you do so that you can filter people to it through your content so they can find more of your ideas in one central location..and you can monetize that central location. This is creating a funnel (think of the shape...the large top represents all of the places you disperse your content to and the bottom of the funnel represents filtering "qualified" people to you and your ideas) which can help you create a fan base of people who are interested in you and your ideas and help you generate income on massive levels

Note, by fan base I don't mean people who will necessarily faint if they see you, but people who will share the content you create (see the top of this post) with other people AND keep consuming your content themselves. That is ultimately how you succeed online by creating content.

Niche ideas... can be anything. Fishing is a niche. Harley Davidson lovers is a niche. Youtubers is a niche. Internet marketing is a niche. Hair dressing is a niche. Hot rods, tuners, car stereos, computers, cell phones, technology, movies, fashion, furniture, interior design, architecture, truck driving, house cleaning, how to, gaming, travel, coffee, wine, food, dentistry, welding, stock market, luxury cars, luxury items, golf, hockey, wood working....all of these are niches.

To make it easy, think of a niche simply as something people are into. Then think of what YOU like. Research to see if others are making money by providing information, services, products or ideas that you are interested in. If they are, if it seems like something you can make a business around, then go for it.

To become an authority on a subject it helps to 'know your stuff'. Most important it's deciding what thing or things to become an authority on. To be an authority you just share the information you know or the information you research with others. You do it day in and day out, over and over, even when you don't really feel like it. You create a funnel (cast a net) to spread what you know, research or create. Work on it every day, learn every day, and before you know it you will be an authority on whatever subjects you choose to go after.

Also, just to throw it in there since I've already written a novel, make sure you think your projects through. Don't let thinking it through stop you from taking action but really try to map out how you are going to put everything together. From your branding to how users are going to experience your sites...think it ALL through. For example, if you write articles and link to your site, what do you want them to see if they click the link? Once they are on your page what do you want them to do? Do you want them to subscribe to your rss feed, check out your social media outlets, join your membership program...whatever it is focus on that. I see a lot of people putting as much crap on their sites as they can hoping someone will click on something and buy! buy! buy! Try to guide your user through the entire process. From the top of your funnel down guide them every step of the way. Help them make the decisions you want them make.

As an example, on one of my sites I used to have ads all over it. At the time I thought this was what I was supposed to do. I hardly made any sales at all from that site. Once I gained experience (I've been doing this stuff for almost 7 years now) I stripped all of my ads down and focused on just a few that I thought would be of real value to my surfers. One ad on the top right of my home page and one on the left under my categories. On every page that ad changes to something different based on what they are clicking on from the home page. Now that site makes enough money that I could shut down every other project I have and still make a living from it.

Sorry for the rant here but I'm trying to help....

Also, don't focus only on traffic. Focus ONLY on traffic that is useful. For example, I have another project (blog) that only gets between 80 and 130 unique visitors a day, it makes me almost $500 a month and has been doing so for years. I could scale it blah blah blah but I spend my time elsewhere.

I hope that brain dump helps you on your journey. Sorry for the rant...I just read your post and figured I would try to give you something useful instead of the normal 3 or 4 liners I normally post...lol.

Good luck.

First of all let me say thanks to all who have answered my question. I'm not very familiar with this forum so I don't know where all of the "buttons" are yet, I did want to thank each individual answer but I can't work out how to do that either! (all help appreciated once again.)

So if I'm getting this somewhat correctly, the answer would seem to be create good content anywhere and everywhere you can get it in front of your "audience" which directs them to a site/blog of yours. The actual sales point could be a blog, whether that comes in the form of affiliate links on the blog, adverts, sales of your own product or more likely all three.

Only question I still have regards a blog versus a web-site is isn't it more difficult to change the content of a web-site regularly than it is to change the content of a blog?

Did actually think of filming my entire journey with screen capture software from "I know nothing about internet marketing" to "this is what I tried" and hopefully to "hey look, I just made my first sale". Thought it would make an interesting series of videos for other new comers.

How to monetize that could be a series of videos in itself. If nothing else the whole thing could be monetized as a cure for insomnia!!!

Thanks again to everyone, I'm sure it won't be the last time I pester y'all for answers.

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PS. As for make Money Ninja saying I was a bit long winded, Lol, my wife would agree with you in a heartbeat my friend !!

Hey
You have received great tips... All I would tell you now is that pick one thing at a time and strive to be the best at it... You need not to buy any material since you can get equivalent or even better content for free.... Moving from one thing to another or niche to niche will only waste your time.

You can succeed anywhere as long as you are smart.

Finally don't think further than wordpress. You can make anysite from wordpres

Just to add another thing to the list of things I'm not understanding, let me please ask this. I'm not sure of the rules of this forum yet, so maybe there is a valid reason for this that I'm not aware of .......but................Where are all of your web-sites?

Suddenly occurs to me today, since I'm more of a visual learner by nature rather than a reader, that I should take a look at the web-sites of the people giving advice and see what is being done by them. learning by example so to speak.

So I come back in to the forum and have a look around but I can't seem to find links to anyone's web-sites/blogs/sales pages etc.

Is there a reason for that or am I just looking in the wrong places?

I've been successful in Lead Generation and that's what I am doing for the past 5 years as a full-time job, although I only work 2-3 hours per day. To collect leads is much easier than selling and products. You should consider it when choosing where to start.
Good luck!

Any questions - let me know!

I stumbled across a place online called affiliate market school (or something similar) which I believe sells leads about loans or insurance. Is that the type of thing you're talking about svetod?

Don't really know how that works but their site says the put you in contact with a "headmaster" who helps you.

Like I said in my original post of this thread, I have no problem putting work in, hard work doesn't scare me, but I'm finding this whole subject confusing and frustrating as I can't seem to work out where to start. I think that's frustrating me more than anything else, where to start???

Questions?? Yeah, roughly about 8 million of them mate Lol.

One solid, tried and true way to make money online is product creation (which couples with email marketing)..

Create simple reports like PDFs, videos, etc. and sell them in places such as the Warrior Special Offers (WSO) section of the Warrior Forum.

This gives you immediate cash, as well as builds your email list at the same time without the need of a website. That email list is invaluable as you can sell affiliate products or more of your own.

This strategy can quickly snowball to become a really good source of income, bringing tens of thousands a month or more.

Ok then so i thought I'd run this past you all to see what you thought of the grand plan. Again, I'm not asking anyone to do the work for me or hand it to me on a plate, just thought it would be good to get some views on the plan, maybe save myself going off in the wrong direction for a while.

What you have to remember in this though is that I genuinely know nothing about IM, I'm starting as a complete newcomer, however for one part of the plan that is actually a plus point as I'll explain.

First part of the plan goes like this. Find a subject, (niche/market/audience) and create a blog around it. Would initially start with a free blog for a month or two to see if it gets any page views or interest then move that to a hosted version. Link it to facebook, twitter, digg, stumpleupon and a handful of other social media platforms.

During the initial first few weeks of posting I'll be looking for some products to promote via blog. During this part of the plan I'll be creating content purely around the subject of the blog (You'll understand better what I mean by that when you hear part 2 of the plan) So only posts concerned with the blog subject matter will be going on the blog.

Part 2 of the plan involves running another blog in tandem with the first blog. I'm very conscious of the possibility of over stretching my "capabilities" by doing two blogs at once when I don't even know how to market the first one, but hear me out please.

The second venture would be a video diary of me creating the first blog and it would document my success or failure as a complete beginner in the field of internet marketing. This second venture would ONLY be concerned with how I get on trying to make money from the internet, NOT the subject matter of the first blog, if you see what I mean.

Obviously this would take a while as I'd need to create videos of the places I look (including my discussions on this forum) the tools/sites/platforms etc I used.

So say I create blog 1 as a health blog (for talking sake). I build a health blog, hopefully a following and try to monetize that blog somehow.

Video blog 2 would be screen capture videos of me creating blog 1, creating posts, talking to you guys, signing up to various social media platforms, detailing what works and what doesn't and then hopefully monetizing THAT blog (vlog) also.

So how does that sound? Just thought I'd ask.

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