Category Archives: Advice

Beware The Hype Machine

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I subscribe to lots of E-mail lists and I read the forums. I get the stuff from the big guys and please take this as some friendly advice: Beware the Hype Machine.

The same techniques that they want to train you on they are using on YOU to sell their products, their seminars, and their coaching sessions. You are always one “secret” away from being successful. There is always one more “amazing discovery” that will blow the doors off your earnings.

The sales copy is personal and friendly, but remember it is a “sales” letter written specifically to tap psychological “triggers” to get you to buy.

I liken this to religious scammers who prey on people desperate for a touch from God. Note well: if you are desperate for anything (love, money, success, etc.) you are vulnerable to being taken advantage of.

The Target Audience

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Part of this ebiz journey is a reorienting of the way I think about things. In the beginning my thoughts were like:

  1. What do I like?
  2. I’ll build that site that I like.
  3. How will I get people to my cool site?

As I’ve learned more and stumbled through the early attempts at stuff, my thinking has shifted to:

  1. What are people interested in?
  2. What product are these people interested in?
  3. Where can I find or make a product for these people?
  4. I’ll build a site to offer this product to these people

This approach solves a big problem. I no longer have to worry about whether people will be interested. The target audience is built in already. Yes, I’ll have to do some marketing, but I don’t have to generate the interest.

In essence this is a shift from being self-centered to other-centered. The self-centeredness in the beginning is understandable as we all tend to stick with what we know or like. If you can make this transition, it will help tremendously.

Niche Thoughts

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The ebiz life is challenging (to say the least). Some people promote that you should do ebiz on what your passions are. The conventional thinking is that is what will keep you motivated and interested. While I agree to a point, I have to disagree if your passion isn’t interesting enough to sustain a business. Of course, this all boils down to your goals as well. Do you want to quit your 9 to 5 job? You’re going to need more than a dollar a day off adsense.

I’m becoming more convinced that the key to success is finding out what people want, not what my passion is. I have a passion for military flight simulators, but that market is practically dead. The Playstation (TM) revolution all but killed it. I’m going to strongly suggest you research what people want first before you start an ebiz.

So how do you find it? One place I check regularly is: Top Sellers! Pick a section and compile a list of what are the most popular sellers. Looking through books on computers/internet, I compiled a list of popular categories.

  1. Computer Books (like books on Excel, PHP, Software coding)
  2. Photoshop Books
  3. Game Guides
  4. eBay
  5. Web Design

Top sellers motivate me because these are the things people are actually buying. This isn’t speculation about interest in buying, it’s the real deal.

Take eBay for example. An Overture search shows that the term “eBay” is searched for 454,823 times a day. Looking at the top sellers, books on how to sell things on eBay rank highly. I would venture to say that there is enough interest to explore a niche website. It might not be your passion, but the traffic shows there is ample interest.

The hardest part is being creative in finding that subset of eBay interest. What angle can you approach that others aren’t? What can you do better than others are already doing? Remember as well that you can always buy content. Find the niche and then spend a few dollars for original articles.