Some are willing to put in more resources and money than others, which makes it even more difficult for new internet marketers to get a piece of the action. Especially when it comes to the low hanging fruit, easy money programs.

Which is why you have to do a lot of thinking outside the box, and a lot of long term strategy planning. If you don’t have a lot of money to invest in PPC or other traffic venues, you are going to want to focus your attention on the organic search results. You are going to try and find niches with little or no organic competition and seat yourself in the top of those search results if possible.

But to do that, you have to be forward thinking and get into niches that are not really populated yet. So today I want to share one secret with you that has been working for me that I like to call “versioning”.

What is versioning?

Simply put, I try to find software and programs with good paying affiliate programs that sell their products in versions. If they are currently on version 6 of any given piece of software, I start looking at the possibility that they might put out lucky number 7. Now I’m going to forwarn you, this can be a crap shoot, and you may or may not win here, but if done correctly, you can get some long term listings that will pay off.

Let me give you an example right here on this blog. I like to use a program called ‘Dragon Naturally Speaking”, which is a voice to text typing program from a company by the name of Nuance. For the last couple of years I’ve been using version 10 of their software, and have been very happy with it.

About a year and a half ago, I started promoting their products. What I found was that they converted reasonably well, even with just a banner ad. So I decided to do some forward planning and a little speculation. A little versioning.

Here’s what I did.

I wrote a really long blog post about a product that didn’t exist yet, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11, which was still a long way off, since version 10 had just come to market a few months before. I then did a little search engine optimization (SEO), to get that page noticed and backlinked using that term. Then what I had hoped would happen did, a discussion started among the blog users. What most affiliate bloggers don’t know is that these discussions in the comments area are the key to a page and it’s success. Google likes active pages that are updated often, and rewards these pages with good listings.

The result was that the page began to rise in the rankings for terms relating to both version 10 and version 11. Resulting in sales via the banners and links within that post for version 10. Now, the cool thing has yet to happen, but I’m fairly confident it will. That being that version 11 will actually be released and the search volume for that term will go up substantially. The good news is that I have the top listings for those terms and expect a lot of traffic when that release actually does happen. The even better news is that I happen to know the new version is going to be released very soon. In a couple of weeks, as a matter of fact. I spoke with their customer service yesterday and they confirmed it for me.

What I think will happen is that there will be an onslaught of new searches in a few weeks for this term. What I think will happen is that I’ll make a lot of sales on this product. All because I planned it out, well in advance.

So how can you benefit from this? You can find some products to promote by doing a little versioning of your own. Now I showed you what I’ve done with only one product, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret…. This is not the only product I’ve done this with. I do it often, and I make pretty decent money with this strategy.

You can too. But you’re going to need to set up a real plan with ground rules, which you need to decide. Simply developing sites and pages around any product with a number is not going to work. You need to pick good candidates that have been successful in the past that you think will have enough demand for a new version. What is the best way to do this? By looking at your software shelf, by looking at the products you actually use.

Do a little homework and find out if other people use it too. In fact, do a lot of research and find out if it’s got a large following. Then go to work. You need to actually know a little about the product to write about it well enough to spark discussion, if you’re going to promote it on an affiliate blog. If you are blowing smoke about a product you don’t, or have never used, you will get your cover blown in about thirty seconds. If you want versioning to work for you, you’ll have to really work at it.

But in the end, the result can be awesome. It can make you even more money and can help you get to affiliate financial freedom. Which is what we are all looking for. Right?

Blogs Are Big For Content

The main techniques of old affiliate marketing involved building a nice landing page and then getting that page to rank well within the search engines. In the modern affiliate marketing world, you now have to compete with blog based websites. Hundreds of blogs in your niche, each with pages upon pages of content. In some cases, this content is auto-generated and mass produced.

Web Hosting Is Crucial

The day is long gone when you could buy a simple hosting account and place dozens of add-on domains on it. While you can comfortably host about three or four websites without suffering too much, search engines have caught on. They examine your website along with others stored in your hosting account. If the content looks spammy, expect to not rank as highly as you should.

The New Definition Of Spam

A one page website that is nothing more than a sales page. The content is basic, poorly written, and is obviously attempting to be overstuffed with keywords. Would you consider this a spammy website? How about a fifty page website, with original high quality content, optimized page structures, and plenty of backlinks from relevant and high ranking websites?

Would you guess that both of these could be considered spammy? If the website is designed only to sell, and is using a nice design and content to mask that fact, it will still raise a red flag with search engines. Providing honest value is the only way to go.

Wow, that’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?

Boy oh boy do I wish I could give you a stock answer, but I can’t. Because what program is best for you is going to change entirely from person to person and from website to website. Depending on what the focus of the website is, the expertise of the person, etc.

Because there are programs out there that can pay you thousands of dollars for a single referral. But it only works if you can send a qualified buyer to them, and in most cases, that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon.

Let’s look at this example.

Let’s say that you have a personal coaching plan, costing $12,000, that pays you $6000 per referral that buys their program. Sounds awesome, right? Yeah, it is, but now you have got to find someone that is A, qualified to buy something that runs over ten grand, and B, someone that will actually whip out the credit card and buy that program from your website referral. Now I’m not saying that these types of commissions don’t happen, of course they do, but they may be spread a little further apart than a program that costs a little less.

Which is why you need to pick out the right affiliate programs for you. It’s ok to promote our example program if you have a website that can sell it, but it’s probably not going to do much for you if you are promoting it on an unrelated site. Let me explain what I mean.

Many people add programs to their site simply because they pay well, not because it benefits their website users. If you have a cooking blog and are pimping a high dollar self help program, it’s probably not going to result in many, possibly any, sales. But if you sell them cookware, recipes, etc, then you probably have a higher shot at a decent conversion rate.

Don’t pick out affiliate programs simply for their payout, pick them for you and your site. Find relevant, appropriate programs to promote, always keeping your user base in mind, and you will go further.

Fact of the matter is, time is a commodity. One that I don’t have a lot of. I’m not complaining, not at all. In fact, I have to thank the good lord above for all that he’s given me. I get to make a living online every day, I get to take care of my family.

However, like many marketers, I always want more. So I have a slew of websites out there. Covering obscure niches that you probably never dreamed of. Many are blogs similar to this one. Like this one, many don’t get the attention that they should.

Which has a price. Though most of the sites make money, they could always make more. Especially if they had the attention they deserved. This is even more true with the scores of niche blogs I have out there. Though they perform well, each and every one of them could make more money.

If I could find the time.

Or, if I could find an employee that was as passionate about affiliate marketing as I am. I know, there are would be marketers out there that I could hire to take over some of these sites, but I’m like a proud papa. Nobody is going to babysit my kids except me….

It has brought me to the point where I am selling some of the company niche sites. You’ve probably read about a few of them in previous posts. In the coming weeks I’ll be posting even more turnkey affiliate websites and affiliate blogs for sale. Some of the niches will blow your mind.

That’s it for today. I wanted to check in since I hadn’t posted here in quite some time. Hope everyone makes some dough today!

Here’s the link to the Texas SEO website auction:

Good luck and happy bidding!

That’s a pretty strong payout!

So it doesn’t take a math major to figure out that you only need a few sales each month to pay the mortgage. The problem is that all the good search angles are taken, right?

Wrong.

What you need to do is think outside the box and find search terms with traffic that are going to rank well in the organic search pages. If you can get a blog or a website ranked for one or more of these tight little nitches, you can make some sales. Remember, you only need 20 a month to rake in 2 grand. I know, it’s not exactly rich, but it is a nice little monthly paycheck.

So use the Google keyword tool to its fullest and find those nitches. They’re out there boys and girls, just waiting.

I found three yesterday, and as soon as the sites are built, I’ll put one or two url’s up for your perusal.

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

Hah, you didn’t think I’d say it, did you?

Well, for the most part, it’s true. There are no real secrets when it comes to affiliate websites and affiliate marketing. It’s all pretty much out there in the open. Right in front of your face, for the most part that is.

The problem is that it’s in lots of different places and is often mixed with lots of incorrect information. Making the parts that are useful and true difficult or impossible to implement for most affiliate marketers. Especially if you’re new to affiliate marketing.

It’s ok, we’re in the process of doing it for you. I’m currently writing my affiliate website ebook which should be available here later this month. It’s a no nonsense workbook that will outline exactly how to find a niche, setup a website, get traffic to it, and make some money.

I’ll warn you now, it’s a no frills book, and I’m not going to fill you full of one liners. What I am going to do is share what I know with you in a way that should be really clear. It’s aim is to guide you into a successful portfolio of money making, niche oriented affiliate websites.

So that’s all I have for now. I’ll keep you posted on the ebook progress. Right now it looks as if I might have it ready for market as soon as the beginning of next week.

Here’s the details:

Get in on the bidding while you can, this one will be hot.

Not only is this lazy, but it’s not very smart either. Because basically, you’re asking us to do all the work for you. In which case, why wouldn’t we just build a site for ourselves?

Now of course we are going to help you if you call us and want us to find a niche for you, but don’t you think it would be better if you found a niche yourself? Because quite frankly, the niche we discover for you, or suggest to you, might not be as good as some of the niche issue could find for yourself.

The reason I say this, is because there runs a great niches out there just waiting to be discovered. If you will do the homework, you’ll be surprised at some of the great niche marketing topics that are still available. By still available, I mean that no one has registered the.com, nor are they marketing heavily at that particular search phrase or keyword.

Nope, all the great niches are not taken, contrary to popular belief. That’s why you affiliate marketers are coming on the scene each and every day and hitting the ground running, making millions within months of their start sometimes.

And you can too, just don’t be lazy about it. Building an affiliate website requires some work. Unfortunately, there is no magic button you can press that will instantly create a website that makes you millions of dollars without any work at all. You’re going to have to do some homework. You’re going to have to do some legwork. You’re going to also have to have a little luck. But with these things, great success might just be around the corner for you!

It’s official! The new Dragon Naturally Speaking 11 (Premium, Home and Mobile) are on their way. Click the banner above to preorder now!

As of this writing, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 has not yet been released. But I am writing this blog post using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 and I can tell you that it’s performing quite well.

There have been errors, probably more my fault than the program. But like all human beings, I pretty much expect miracles out of the box. To which, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 has delivered.

The product is wonderful! Being able to write my blog posts using my headset is absolutely fantastic! Dragon claims that you can increase your productivity by up to 200%. Now I’m not sure that I’m receiving anywhere near that kind of productivity level. But I will tell you this, I usually type between 40 and 50 words a minute. If I’m feeling really frisky, I may even be able to knock out 60 per minute.

With Dragon NaturallySpeaking, I’m watching the word count in my WordPress text editor and watching my computer clock at the same time. Though not entirely scientific, more specifically accurate, it appears to me that I’m putting in about 75 words per minute.

Not a huge upswing in productivity, but enough to make it worth your while, and mine too.

Stop and think about it for a minute. For me, a person who maintains 15 to 20 blogs at any given time, a 15 word per minute increase is substantial. In a days time, it could literally mean hours. Another thing I noticed when writing this post, is that it’s a little more simple to provide more content for each blog post. This post looks like it’s dialing in at about 300 words, which is about 100 more than my normal blog post.

All in all, I highly suggest Dragon NaturallySpeaking for those that work with the computer heavily. It is a timesaver and a productivity tool no web publisher should be without.