Looking for a step by step method to create a content site, grow it bigger and turn it into profits? This blueprint will show you how to do it. In the first part of this 2-part article, we discussed niche research, setting up your framework and creating content. Now we’ll talk about using it to generate profits.

Step #5 – Throw In Money-Making Systems

There are so many ways to do this, it would be too difficult to list them all.

The most obvious is adding ‘Pay per Click’ links, like Google Adsense or one of the alternatives. Since your blog will be tightly themed, you’ll see well targeted ads appearing across your blog.

Another proven system is to run ads for products or services. These can be your own, or ones you’re promoting as an affiliate.

A critical way you can differentiate yourself from the crowd is to do a short ‘advertorial’ (or endorsement) instead of merely placing a link or banner for the product or service you’re promoting. Use a picture, some bullet points highlighting the biggest benefits, end with a powerful call to action, and insert your affiliate link.

When you’ve created this endorsement box, insert it into the blog template so it shows up across your blog, getting your ad multiple exposures – giving you the highest chance of making a sale.

Step #6 – Kickstart The Marketing

Set up your blog to ping the major services every time you update your blog.

Promote your opt-in list everywhere – in email sig files, on forum signatures, on ezine directories, running paid ads, ad swaps, doing JV deals.

Submit your blog’s RSS feed to all the major directories.

Use ‘tag and ping’ to get listed in social bookmarking sites.

Run your blog roll list – and start conversations with other bloggers.

Encourage visitors, subscribers and forum registrants to help spread the word.

Submit articles to various directories and ezines, linking back to your blog.

These are the most effective, least expensive methods I’ve used to drive the initial rush of traffic. They should work well to begin with – and then, you can take it as high as you wish.

How It All Synchronizes Together

Sure, it takes some time to set this all up correctly. But when you consider how easily and effortlessly you can continue to manage your ‘system’ once it’s set up, you’ll agree it’s well worth the effort.

When your framework is in place, here’s what you’ll have to continue doing:

1. Post a short article or post to your blog regularly, often

2. Well, really, there is NOTHING further to do!

Yes!

Your post on your blog will link to your forum – inviting visitors to discuss it. If you allow comments to be posted, these visitors will also generate content for your own blog.

The discussions on the forum will generate a vibrant community – after some intial nurturing and hand-holding, of course – which then becomes self-sustaining. (Think about how often you see Allen Says in here, and you’ll get the idea!)

The autoresponder system will automatically pull content from your RSS feed and email it to your registered subscribers, providing them with the latest content, and maybe also enticing them back to the forum and blog.

As more and more visitors hit your blog and forum, your list will grow, and more folks see your ads – and soon you’ll be making sales.

Throw in viral pass-along systems, and everything grows incrementally – hands off.

Your only ‘expense’ needs to be on content development (if you don’t want to do it yourself). Everything else can be found for free, or at a very nominal cost (not counting your time and effort investment in learning and implementing the technology)… and will quickly become self-financing if your PPC and direct sales revenues grow.

This is going to be a fast, short article – one that teaches you how to create information products at lightning speed. Fasten your seat belt and get ready to take off!

Select Your Subject

Make sure it is something you know enough to create a short report, a valuable ebook or an informative audio recording about.  Also confirm that it is something others will find useful and profitable enough for them to dig in and spend money to buy it.  If you can tie it in to a current trend, a hot topic, a timely news item or event, and in this way get some buzz going, it will boost your sales and profit.

Research Your Topic

If you are already an expert on this topic, you’ll save time. If you’re just starting out studying it, be prepared to spend the most time on this step. Take advantage of the power and reach of the Internet to carry out your research at warp speed.

Draft An Outline

Don’t waste too much time on this, but make sure your outline covers all aspects of the topic of your information product.

When you set out to create information products, the most important step is to decide what problem it will solve or what questions it will answer. Be sure all of that is covered – but don’t go overboard loading it with too many ‘incidentals’.

Create Information Products

There are many ways to do this. You can write or type it out. You can dictate it into a recorder and have it either published as an audio course, or transcribed into a text document. You can get on the phone and interview an expert. You could pull out your video camera and record yourself explaining something.

Package Your Information Product

This is important in adding perceived value to your offering. An ebook cover adds a touch of class to your electronic report. A nicely designed CD cover makes your audio recording look more attractive. Plus, you get name and business branding through the imagery, logo and graphics.

Plan Multiple Formats

Once you create information products, don’t stop with one version. If you write an ebook, think about having it published as a print book, recorded on audio as a CD, even converted into a video presentation. If you did an audio book, have it transcribed into short reports, turned into a set of articles for your blog, even converted into an article to be published in magazines.

Infopreneuring is about getting maximum leverage from content you create, and developing multiple income streams from your one-time intensive effort. Study the intricate steps involved in becoming a masterful infopreneur and you can build your information product empire far and wide, and create information products at lightning speed – for massive profits.

Selling information products is not hard, challenging or impossible work. But you still have to do something. Starting right now.

Let’s assume you already have an information product. If you don’t, there are tons of resources and articles that will teach you how to create, outsource or license one.

Once you have an information product you want to start selling, you have multiple options of weaving it right into your current marketing practices.

Selling Information Products on Your Website and Blog

If you have a website, blog or forum you can mention your information product on it. By modifying your website template, the small (or even large) ad for your information product is instantly displayed all over your website – and gets inserted automatically even into future content you add.

As long as your information product is relevant to what you feature on your website or blog, is likely to interest the audience you are attracting to your site, it is very possible you will make some sales just from doing this.

Selling Information Products in Ezines and Ecourses

Do you publish an ezine? Or have short email courses on your subject that visitors can sign up to receive? If you do, these become excellent vehicles for selling information products.

You can run ads for the information product at the beginning, end or middle of each issue’s content. You could do a ‘solo ad’ – an issue that’s completely devoted to waxing lyrical about your information product. Or you could do an ‘in context’ promotion where you tie in the content and the marketing in a way that’s hard to separate.

Selling Information Products at Lectures and Presentations

When you speak in public or small gatherings of people in your niche, at seminars, conferences or bootcamps, you can mention that you have an information product for sale and give details about ordering it.

Some free and low cost seminar models are based entirely on being profitable from ‘back of the room’ sales, where the platform speaker pitches the value of a course or information product they are selling, and audience members rush to the tables after the presentation to buy a copy!

Selling Information Products during Coaching and Mentoring

If you take on students for a one-on-one (or small group) coaching, training or mentoring process, you could make your information product a part of the curriculum. Either make it a part of the package they are buying, or sell it separately while making it mandatory reading or listening as part of your coaching.

Selling Information Products at Meetings and Gatherings

Nothing prevents you from selling information products at informal or even family get-togethers, as long as the topic of your information product is relevant to the people attending.

In fact, if you just authored your first book, what better than walking up to grandma and asking her to announce it to the rest of the family at dinner – but don’t forget to mention you will not give out freebies!

Selling Information Products in Letters and Packages

If your business sends out letters, bills, invoices or packages, insert a note mentioning your information product. A simple flyer, coupon or even visiting card giving a website link to get more details can bring in a few extra sales – at a very small added effort or cost.

There are many more ways you can start selling information products. Keep your eyes open to learn as many techniques as possible. An infopreneur not only creates valuable content… a smart infopreneur also loses no opportunity to sell it and profit from the content!

You’ve sweated and swotted, worn your fingers down to the bone, but finally it’s ready – your first ebook. Now the big question becomes: “Where to sell ebooks?”

If this is your first time selling ebooks, it can be a forbidding thought. All around you there are literally hundreds of opportunities. Which ones should you take? Where do you get started?

Here are some tips.

Sell Ebooks On Your Website

The first thing I tell people who ask where to sell ebooks is to begin where you have the most control – on your own website. Or blog. Or forum.

Sure, you may not have a big, busy website in the beginning. But the enormous advantage you have over other places is that you are free to ‘sell’ your ebook using any method you like.

Want to write a one-page glowing review? You can do it. Prefer an over-hyped headline or classified ad? You’re free to use it. Want to show a photo or two? Do it. Or feature testimonials from other buyers or reviewers? No one can stop you.

When you sell ebooks on other websites and places, you have limitations. But on your own web properties, you set the rules. That helps.

Sell Ebooks On High Traffic Resources

To sell ebooks, you need buyers. And everything else being equal, more visitors being exposed to your ebook will result in more buyers.

So try and get your ebook featured on high traffic resources. It is a lot better if there is some match or fit between the topic of your ebook and the nature of the audience arriving at the high traffic site – but even general interest websites with large crowds can sell a few copies of your ebook.

Sell Ebooks On Niche Sites

The other extreme is to get very targeted traffic to view your ebook sales page. So if you’re wondering where to sell ebooks on bird-watching or growing tropical plants or polishing diamonds, the best places would be niche sites catering to these topics.

Audiences at these niche sites, even if not in large numbers, are more likely to buy your ebook. The higher ‘conversion rate’ makes up for smaller numbers – and you may actually end up making more sales and bigger profits from well targeted marketing to niche audiences.

Sell Ebooks in Newsletters

Ebooks sell well from endorsements and reviews that go out to targeted, trusting, responsive readers of newsletters and ezines. Look for publications where the editor or author has credibility and a following with his readers. An endorsement from such thought leaders can explode sales of your ebook.

Sell Ebooks Through Affiliates

By sharing a part of your profits with someone who helps you sell more copies, you are not losing money – you are making a smaller portion of a much larger total. Be proactive in attracting affiliates, especially those who understand how to sell ebooks and have a large following.

Sell Ebooks Offline

Classified ads in newspapers, flyers at tradeshows and exhibitions, direct mail offers, discount coupons in grocery stores and bulletin boards and visiting cards branded with your ebook selling website can all bring in trickles of sales for your ebook.

There are hundreds of other places where to sell ebooks, but don’t get caught up in the confusion. Start with a handful. Track your results. Keep what works. Drop what doesn’t work, and replace it with other avenues. Very soon, you’ll have a set of targeted, effective, profitable channels to sell ebooks and grow your profits steadily.

A ‘blog’ is a sort of online personal diary where anyone can reveal his/her innermost thoughts, feelings, desires, dreams, ambitions, hopes, fears… you get the point.

Where Did The Word Blog Come From?

The word Blog is short for ‘Web Log’. The history of blogs is as fascinating as the potential that blogging has for your business.  The world’s first blog was probably ‘Open Diary’ created by Dave Winer. The term itself was likely coined by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997 (source: Wikipedia).

The short form, “blog,” was coined by Peter Merholz. He (jokingly) split the word “weblog” into the phrase “We blog” in the sidebar of his own blog in April or May 1999.  Evan Williams, co-founder of the micro-blogging network Twitter, first used ‘blog’ as a verb to indicate the action of posting a message to your blog.

The first known use of a blog on a news site was in August 1998, when Jonathan Dube of The Charlotte Observer published one chronicling Hurricane Bonnie.

What Is The Word Blog Short For?

Recently, I was asked this question by email.  Interesting enough, when I first started blogging in 2003, one of today’s well-known bloggers emailed me to ask a nearly identical question!

“What Is The Word Blog Short For?”

The short answer is: Web Log.

A blog is a log or record or diary of various kinds of information, published in a reverse-chronological order.

So, now you know!

What Exactly Is A Blog?

There is a lot of confusion among beginners about blogs and blogging.

Yes, it’s a website. With one small difference. It lists posts ordered by date, in a personal journal format, and is easier to create than a website – just involves typing into a form and hitting the PUBLISH button.

The Chicago Tribune explained it more concisely.

“A Weblog is a Web site that maintains a constantly updated list of links to other sites; those links can deal with any subject or focus on a particular one. Webloggers typically offer pithy, sarcastic commentary about the links.”

And that, in essence, is what a blog is!

What Does Blog Stand For

At first, blogging was like regular diary writing – just done on the Web for everyone to see. As it evolved, a blog became useful for a variety of other purposes.

As a publishing platform that’s an extension of you and your thoughts, opinions, feelings and more, a blog can stand for ANYTHING!

• Personal blogs are about individuals and the (not so exciting?!) events in their life.
• Corporate blogs are run by businesses, and can be used to share news and information with clients, vendors and the public.
• Genre-specific blogs focus on sharing stuff about niche topics with a select audience that enjoys them.
• Media blogs leverage the multi-media Web, adding sound, light and movement to the Web.

Today, blogs are rich online resources of content and information, presented in a chronological and categorized fashion, in a way that’s both interesting and useful to consume.

Ebooks are quick, cheap and easy to create. They are easier to sell on the Web than print books. Millions of ebooks are already available for sale online.

But many infopreneurs ask, “Why should I sell ebooks ?” Here are 10 good reasons you should sell ebooks.

Reason #1: Sell ebooks for Money

The most obvious reason to sell ebooks is to generate a profit. This could be huge if you author a wildly popular ebook. However, even if you sell only few copies at a modest price, most of it is profit because you have no cost in printing or shipping – everything is digital.

Reason #2: Sell ebooks for Fame

You might want to sell ebooks just because you’ll be known as a writer, an author, a specialist in your niche. It may not get you into the same league as Stephen King or J.K.Rowling – and then again, it might!

Reason #3: Sell ebooks for Branding

By bringing you to the notice of prospects in your niche, your ebook can serve as an effective branding vehicle. That’s one good reason to take writing e-books seriously and only put your name on top quality content. You want to be remembered for the right reasons!

Reason #4: Sell ebooks for Distribution

Ebooks can go ‘viral’ – spreading from one reader to another. This means, by a simple rebranding/licencing process, you can get your writing into the hands of thousands of readers you may not have been able to reach on your own.

Reason #5: Sell ebooks for Affiliates

Ebooks can include links within them for other products and services. Your ebook can also have links to your other products, and by giving it to your affiliates for them to sell and distribute, you profit from sales coming in out of these links.

Reason #6: Sell ebooks for Backend Sales

Offer top quality content in your ebooks, and that lowly $19 front-end product could bring in lucrative consulting fees on the backend – or even repeat business for years, exploding your bottomline.

Reason #7: Sell ebooks for Links

Some PDF ebooks are hosted online – and can get indexed by search engines. If your ebooks have links back to your website, they could benefit your ranking on search engine results.

Reason #8: Sell ebooks for Clients

You could create and sell ebooks for your consulting clients, doing their hard work in return for a fee.

Reason #9: Sell ebooks for Market Penetration

By writing an ebook that appeals to a certain segment of your market, you can enter into new sections that would be difficult to penetrate with traditional advertising and other marketing efforts. Sell ebooks and you could get in ‘under the radar’

Reason #10: Sell ebooks for Research

Strange, but you might sell ebooks to evaluate the profit potential of a niche you are thinking about getting into. If a niche audience will not buy a $19 ebook, the chances are low that they will spend more money buying your expensive coaching program. And it is far easier to test with an ebook than a costly and extensive project!

There are no doubt many more good reasons to sell ebooks, so if you know of any please let me know. I’ll be delighted to update this article based on your suggestions!

Both had to do with refunds of my products. Not something new, though it certainly is rare to have a couple in a day. But the irritation came from what the people who asked for refunds had to say about it.

One explained that it was because the course was 2 years old – and the other condemned it because all it had was “good general knowledge”.

This brought to mind a quote by Henry David Thoreau…

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

So, if buyer #1 had chosen to follow “something new” instead of something that has stood the test of time, been proven to work across many niches and situations, and used by many entrepreneurs in growing their online business, then she’s taking on a RISK.

The risk that what’s “shiny and new” – like most of its kind – doesn’t work.

She’s exchanging a fair amount of her life in testing it out. Once it’s proven to work – like my Smilenaire Way program is – then the value becomes worth the price.

Until then, there’s a real danger that it may not work out… and that’s the price she’s choosing to pay instead!

And buyer #2 debunked the value of “good general knowledge”.

As I’ve said before while writing about content curation, in a world where data grows explosively and at an ever growing pace, there’s ENORMOUS value in culling the nuggets of wisdom and knowledge from the morass of raw data.

In the last couple of days, 5 EXABYTES of new information was created. (An exabyte is 1 billion gigabytes!)

That’s the equivalent of ALL the information created upto 2003… starting from the DAWN OF CIVILIZATION!

And you want to try and locate these elusive golden pieces of profitable knowledge all by yourself?

Good luck! You’re going to need it.

For the others, there’s a shortcut. It’s called “The Smilenaire Way” program

I’ve had the chance to review it, keep some names and delete others – so this revised version is “new” in that sense!

Influence is a strange, mysteriously powerful word. It is defined as the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on the actions, behavior and opinions of others.

And that’s why ‘influence’ goes far beyond words like ‘successful’, ‘rich’ or ‘popular’ – or even ‘notorious’.

It has a connotation that’s deeper, more invasive and… well… INFLUENTIAL.

That’s why the list I put together of the Most Influential Internet Marketers took more time and effort and thought than simply doing a quick ‘copy and paste’ from an index like GuruDAQ or a cherry-picking exercise from Google search results.

Before I share this list, there are 3 issues I’d like to clarify. This is MY list of the most INFLUENTIAL among INTERNET MARKETERS.

Notice the emphasis?

“My” list… because I don’t know everyone who is an Internet marketer, and can’t state that these are the only ones with influence. I can only pick from those I know well or have heard a lot about.

“Internet marketers” is a term with varying definitions. I use it to refer to people who are primarily ‘marketers’ who are best known for, or focus exclusively on, using the Internet. That’s why I didn’t include, say, Jay Abraham or Dan Kennedy in this list – both guys are geniuses with influence, but both don’t read or send email!

Finally, the most controversial issue may be what constitutes “influence”. To me, there is an ethical dimension to this word. I distinguish it from “manipulation” or “coercion” (subtle or overt). I know there are people with larger or more loyal follower bases than the ones I’ve listed – but don’t think that stems from “influence” (the way I describe it).

This is not to say anyone not on my list is unethical. Far from it.

Ok, enough already. Let’s get this list done!

Here’s my short list of folks who can INFLUENCE the Internet marketing arena like few others can. The people who are followed, tracked and mimicked by huge crowds of people – and who can shape opinion, trends and tactics.

In no particular order or sequence, this is my list of 22 Most Influential Internet Marketers…

Mike Filsaime

The genius behind a phenomenon called “Butterfly Marketing“, Mike Filsaime is every Internet marketer’s dream role model. Mike left a day job at a car dealership to build a massively successful Internet business with a wide and growing portfolio of products and services.

Through his hard work and richly deserved success, the secrets of which he shared willingly with students, Mike Filsaime has inspired and influenced many young and aspiring enthusiasts to follow in his footsteps.

Visit Mike Filsaime’s blog

Yanik Silver

Yanik Silver brought direct marketing experience to the world of Internet marketing and built SureFire Marketing into a huge success. More importantly, he shared the fruits of his knowledge, wisdom and testing through a series of information products, courses, homestudy programs and seminars, ranging in price from $9.95 to $15,000.

In the process, Yanik Silver touched thousands of Internet marketers’ lives and helped many achieve breakthroughs. Yanik is one of a very small group of marketing teachers who can influence thousands of people to take action on whatever he recommends, because he has built up high levels of the most precious commodity – TRUST.

Visit Yanik Silver’s blog

Paul Myers

Publisher of TalkBiz News, one of the longest running Internet marketing newsletters with a loyal, even rabidly passionate readership, Paul Myers influences the way thousands of online business owners think and run their business through his writing.

His scathing wit and razor sharp insights in business and copywriting make Paul Myers a person whom every student of Internet marketing follows and learns from at every opportunity.

Visit Paul Myers’ blog

Mark Joyner

Mark Joyner is the man affectionately labelled ‘The Godfather of Internet Marketing’. And that’s because he has ‘influenced’ THOUSANDS of people through his pioneering efforts at Aesop.com – before he suddenly retired from Internet marketing in a move that sent shockwaves through the industry.

Fortunately, Mark Joyner is now back – and having even greater influence by moving into a field a little different from Internet marketing – with a new program called ‘SIMPLE.OLOGY‘. And through it, Mark Joyner has a more profound effect on the niche… as well as far beyond.

Visit Mark Joyner’s blog

Willie Crawford

Willie Crawford leveraged success in an online niche market into being recognized as one of the top names in Internet marketing, until today he is a highly respected expert in various aspects of building and growing an online business.

Willie Crawford is also author of a popular autobiography of his inspirational rise to success from very humble roots. Having experienced the heady feeling of success, he has gone out of his way to lend a helping hand up to his peers, making him one of the most influential Internet marketers to his wide group of loyal fans. His latest venture is the ‘Internet Marketing Inner Circle‘, a group mentoring program.

Visit Willie Crawford’s blog

Can YOU guess who else is going to be on this list?

Read on…

Dr.Ken Evoy

Yes, another medical doctor on the list of influential Internet marketers is the vastly respected and widely admired Dr.Ken Evoy. Dr.Ken is a serial entrepreneur who was a millionaire toy-maker before he got started on his online business.

With his paradigm shifting product, Site BuildIt and an amazing affiliate program powering it to huge success, Dr.Ken Evoy became an icon to many Internet marketers and wields a lot of clout in the niche – but always uses his influence in a very nice way.

Visit Dr.Ken Evoy’s blog

Marlon Sanders

Marlon Sanders is another veteran of the offline direct marketing mail-order battle-field who embraced the Web early and made it his goldmine. Most Internet marketers would point to Marlon Sanders when asked to name an entertaining, experienced and energetic educator. He also innovated several developments that are today mainstream Internet marketing techniques.

Through a series of information products, software tools and more recently Web based ‘dashboards‘, Marlon Sanders has provided hundreds, if not thousands, of his clients with the tools, knowledge and support to build their own online businesses from the ground up.

Visit Marlon Sanders’ blog

Michael Green

A relatively ‘under the radar’ Internet marketer, Michael Green owns one of the top 3 Internet marketing forums and runs a thriving business at HowToCorp.com.

His product portfolio makes one gasp – and his clients, mentoring students and business partners have all benefited from his rich experience, vast readership and incisive marketing skills. As a joint venture partner, I have personally reaped rich rewards from the influence Michael Green wields in the Internet marketing field, and had absolutely no hesitation in penciling his name on this exclusive list.

Visit Michael Green’s forum

Dr.Ralph Wilson

Dr.Ralph Wilson is one of the pioneers of Internet marketing. He is a widely respected and intensely followed specialist in various facets of building an online business and promoting it using the Internet.

One of the earliest e-publishers with a passionate ezine readership, Dr.Ralph Wilson’s influence extends to over 100,000 subscribers on his mailing list and many thousand more who read his extensive website at Web Marketing Today.

Jimmy D.Brown

An outstanding strategic information marketer, Jimmy Brown’s influence stems from the MASSIVE number of sales he has made of his series of ebooks – powerful guides to the basics of online marketing that educated a generation of infopreneurs and Internet marketers.

Jimmy D. Brown then extended this reach and influence with a very popular list building membership site, “List and Traffic” that has taken newbies by the hand and led them to business success.

Mike Merz

Mike Merz is the ‘Internet marketer who knows every other Internet marketer’ – and thus wields incredible influence among this crowd. He specialized as a JV (joint venture) broker, at a time when doing so was not fashionable, or even profitable.

Mike Merz refined the art of brokering JV deals to the point where he is now the go-to guy for any product creator who is launching a new promotion and looking to reach Internet marketers that matter. And he can put his clients in touch with owners of huge lists, practically guaranteeing sales and profits for any good product.

Visit Mike Merz’s blog

I’m just half-way through the list – so…

Can YOU guess who else is going to be on it? And are you jotting down names YOU think ought to be on it?

John Delavera

John Delavera makes this list for a very important reason – he influences Internet marketers by example. He does the things he teaches, which gives his coaching the personal touch that makes a big difference.

John Delavera launched the most complete suite of Internet marketing and online business administration tools bundled in a package called ‘Fantasos‘. An excellent writer with a unique style that reveals the humane individual behind the successful front, John Delavera influences through his ezine in a way very few others on this list do – or can.

Visit John Delavera’s blog

Adam Audette

Adam Audette is the moderator of LinkExchange Digest, a long-standing email newsletter about online business that reaches tens of thousands of readers daily.

And Adam Audette influences this huge group of Internet marketers in a very non-threatening, subtle way – by NOT trying to influence them! Sound like a paradox? Sign up for the LED list and then watch how a class act of moderation looks like… and you’ll also understand the reason I consider Adam Audette one of the most influential Internet marketers.

Harvey Segal

Harvey Segal is fondly called ‘Mr.Clickbank’. And his influence among Internet marketers needs no further proof than the fact he got representatives from online payment processing giant Clickbank to meet face to face in London recently.

Harvey Segal’s biting wit and no-nonsense approach to hype and hoopla make him a refreshing change from the ‘over the top’ approach of most Internet marketers. His Clickbank Success Forum is an affiliate marketer’s watering hole to get the latest scoop of what’s happening on Clickbank – and elsewhere.

Visit Harvey Segal’s forum

Joel Comm

Joel Comm is a best-selling author and had his own reality TV show, “The Next Internet Millionaire“. Is it any surprise, then, that he’s one of the most influential Internet marketers?

Joel Comm has stretched the envelope of what’s possible from a start as a ‘traditional’ Internet marketer with a money-making online model. He first mastered Google Adsense, taught people to do it, and then leveraged that early success into something most Internet marketers won’t even dare dream about!

Visit Joel Comm’s blog

I’m not finished yet! There are still some names to be added to my list.

Paul Smithson

When I think of someone who influences through product excellence, Paul Smithson is the first name that comes to mind. Creator of the amazingly popular website development tool, XSitePro, he re-defined the standard for top quality product design and exceptional value delivery in the Internet marketing area.

Paul Smithson built his brand upon quality and value. His follow up audio bookstore membership, Spoken Network, continued the trend and gained him many more followers and admirers, extending his influence further and wider.

Rich Schefren

Rich Schefren leveraged many things including his offline business building expertise and connections with big name experts to launch his brand as an Internet marketer with Strategic Profits – until today he’s known as the ‘guru of gurus’ – truly an influential position!

In a series of powerful ‘Manifesto’ reports, he brought real-world business systems and strategy training to the ‘hit-or-miss’ random playing field of Internet marketing. Thanks to his message, many ‘beginner level’ online business owners are now looking more ‘professional’ – and running stable enterprises.

Visit Rich Schefren’s blog

Ken McArthur

Ken McArthur acquired influence by helping people who reached many other people – and thereby multiplying his reach exponentially. If you’ve heard of the JV Alert series of events, you’ve surely heard about Ken, because he’s the brain behind making them happen.

Ken McArthur has grown from strength to strength since then, and is now authoring a book that’s going to be a best-seller – just because there are so many people in his universe eager to buy it when he publishes. Now, that’s influence!

Visit Ken McArthur’s blog

Allan Gardyne

Allan Gardyne is an affiliate marketer with influence. To many Internet marketers who have known him over the years, he is a symbol of many things – but above all, how to handle adversity and meet challenges with fortitude.

A deeply conscientious teacher who made ‘informed recommendation’ the de facto standard of affiliate endorsement, Allan Gardyne’s “AssociatePrograms.com” website and forum is the meeting place where thousands of his students and followers learn from the master affiliate.

Visit Allan Gardyne’s forum

Terry Dean

Terry Dean is back with a bang – and he instantly gains entry into the exclusive club of influential Internet marketers. No surprise to those who knew and studied under Terry in the heady early days of the Web.

Terry Dean epitomized the ‘if I can do it, anyone can’ attitude of Internet marketing success with his story of how he built a fortune rapidly from a humble start as a pizza delivery boy.

Visit Terry Dean’s blog

Martin Avis

Martin Avis publishes a self-development newsletter, has authored some nice Internet marketing ebooks, and networks actively online. What puts him ahead of many others who do this are things like his organizing a ‘London Lunch’ – for Internet marketers in the U.K. And that makes him one of the most influential Internet marketers from his country.

Martin Avis sends out an ezine called “Kickstart Daily” – and his readers are all raving fans of his wisdom and wit.

In the end, I chickened out!

If you’ve been keeping count, you’ll notice I only have 21 people listed… not 22 as I first mentioned.

Why?

So that YOU can nominate ONE more person who is NOT already on this list. So go and tell me who you think belongs on the list of “22 Most Influential Internet Marketers”

I have written around 75 ebooks. Some of them are 300 pages long, others under 30 pages. Some sell for $197, others for $5. Some took me several months to write, others just a few hours.

I’m about to share with you the quickest, easiest way to create an ebook that you can master and then put into action to build your own empire of ebooks within a few short months.

Ready to learn the ‘secret’?

Do Your Research Online

If you don’t have Internet access, go to a Net cafe or public library that lets you use the Web. Look on the big search engines for information on your topic. Go to Amazon.com and search for titles on the subject you are going to write.

Keep a text file open. Whenever you come across interesting or useful snippets of data related to your topic, copy-and-paste them into your text file.

Amazon.com allows you to look at the table of contents and sometimes a sample chapter of books in the database. When you find popular titles on your topic, scan the contents – and make a note of the topics they cover. It is a good idea to also record the chapter titles and sub-titles, for future reference.

Study Your Target Market

Thanks to the miracle that’s the World Wide Web, it’s possible to do this extensive research right from your arm-chair!

Look for places where your target prospects hang out online. It may be forums and discussion groups, or popular blogs and newsletters. Study them to see what excites and interests your audience, what problems bother them the most, what solutions they are seeking – and what they find and get from what’s available.

Draw Up Your Blueprint

With an idea now of what your audience wants, and what is currently out there, you are ready to start creating e-books by drafting out your own ebook outline.

Make each chapter meaningful. Try and address one specific problem faced by your prospects in each. Offer the solution along with it.

For example, if you are creating e-books about building a website, your outline may look like this:

• Building your website: Your options – Do it yourself, hire it out, buy sites
• Tools to build websites: What you need to get the job done
• Learn to build websites: Useful principles and basics of website design
• Step by step guide: A connect-the-dots plan to build your first website
• Troubleshooting HTML: What to do when your code won’t work
• Graphics Minefields: How to navigate them safely and get lovely web graphics
• Testing your website: Essentials of making your site accessible to everyone

You get the idea. Each chapter heading addresses one specific area of the complete problem – and offers solutions a reader can take and put to use right away.

Write

There’s no way to get around this – unless if you prefer to speak into a recording machine and then have the content transcribed.

Package and Distribute

Sounds blatantly obvious, but you’d be surprised at just how many people get excited about creating e-books – but will then slack off and let it lie idle on their hard drives.

It is important to know when your e-book is done – and needs to just get out there and get read. Surely some people will be critical. But that feedback will only let you make it better in the next version or edition. Don’t fear critics, make use of them.

Start creating e-books quickly and easily following this simple plan. You could do one or two a week, if you’re willing to invest the time and effort involved in creating e-books.

Infopreneuring is simple. Even easy. Yet not everyone who starts out as an infopreneur becomes wildly successful at it.

One obvious reason is giving up too early. Not being willing to work hard at it is another. But even if you are sincere and persistent in your efforts, you won’t succeed wildly – unless you know some advanced information marketing secrets.

I’ll share 4 of the most powerful advanced information marketing secrets with you – use them wisely and well.

Secret #1 – Lifetime Value

Doesn’t sound like an advanced information marketing secret, right? I know. Yet, if you understand these 2 words deeply, your infopreneur activities will become so wildly profitable, you’ll squeal in delight!

What does ‘lifetime value’ mean? It is a term used to describe how much a new customer is worth to your information business – over the ‘lifetime’ of their relationship with you.

If you sell a $19 ebook, and for every 10 buyers, one will go on to join your mentoring program and pay you $150 a month for a year, your 10 new customers are no longer worth $190 to your business – they are worth $1,990

Knowing your ‘lifetime value’ figures give you extreme leverage in investing time, money and effort into attracting new customers to your business – and doing it with certainty and confidence about being profitable all the time!

Secret #2 – Backend Profits

The next advanced information marketing secret is that your real profits come from the ‘backend sales’ – not the product or service you sell upfront at a low ticket price to attract new buyers.

Using the same example as above, your $19 ebook is the front-end sale. It brings in new customers. The $150/month mentoring program is the ‘back-end sale’ – and is 10 times more profitable.

Lesson to all infopreneurs – Develop a profitable, valuable back end.

Secret #3 – Allowable Cost of Acquisition

This advanced information marketing secret ties in with the first – lifetime value.

Once you know how much a new customer is worth to your business, on average, you have a figure on which to base the budget you are willing to spend to acquire a new one.

If your lifetime value is $25, then you know by spending up to $25 to get a new customer, you will not lose money! Can you imagine the level of confidence and security this data will give you?

Secret #4 – Building a Business, Not a Money-Maker

This last advanced information marketing secret should be no secret at all. Far too many infopreneurs spend most of their day working on their business… and forget to have any fun outside it.

It is because they build ‘money-machines’, not sustainable businesses. Think about your infopreneur business as a collection of processes. These processes create your product, advertise it to your customers, deliver it to people who purchase, and follow up with buyers to make future (backend) sales.

By integrating these processes into a collective ‘system’, you as a business owner will not get tied up in the business – and can be free to do other things will your infopreneuring cranks out cash and delights customers, on autopilot!

To learn how to implement these processes into your inforpreneur business and refine what is working so it becomes constantly better, you need to widen your knowledge and stay updated on recent developments – which means you keep learning constantly about being an advanced information marketing specialist.