Social networking sites are a popular way for internet marketers to draw guaranteed website traffic. Creating a Squidoo lens to promote your affiliate programs or your own products can help you reach your target market and explode your client base without breaking your budget.

In fact, Squidoo.com is quickly becoming THE place to market your products and services, especially if you are new to the world of internet marketing.

In the past, online marketers brand new to marketing struggled to earn their first profitable dollar. The only way to bring in traffic in a hurry was through pay-per-click.

In 2008, it’s a whole new ball game, and here are your top ten tips for SQUIDOO! 1. It is FREE!

I know it’s been awhile since I answered any of your questions here. I apologize. I was having problems with this blog, but they’re all fixed now, so let’s get back to it.

This is a question that comes up all the time…

"How do I zero in on a truly profitable niche?"

There are ways to do research online that will show you where people "hang out" and give you ideas on what they would want to buy if it was offered to them.

Basically you need to locate "hot" topics of interest. You can do this by searching online forums, groups and popular social networking sites.

In order to find out what they might be interested in buying, you’ll need to read their questions and comments. This will give you ideas of what they’re looking for.

This is a pretty general answer because the step-by-step details are too much to write here. However, that’s exactly what I did when I created my new product, Niche-Blueprint.

I don’t want this to sound like an ad, but Niche-Blueprint will show you exactly where to find hot markets, how to figure out if the niche is profitable enough to be worth your time and effort, and how to market your products to the niches you find.

Now, here’s another question sent to me by a reader…

"How can I make money quickly? P.S. Denise, I love your work! You’re an inspiration."

Here’s a great idea to make some quick money from the "hot topics" you locate at forums or other websites…

Write a report (or use a product with Private Label Rights) that answers the questions the forum or group members have. Then simply put a link to your report in your signature file. (Be sure to use an enticing line of text so people will click your link.)

Contribute some value to the conversation that’s going on about that topic daily so your signature appears frequently and you’ll start getting traffic and sales in no time.

I got a notice from Aweber today that someone had unsubscribed from my newsletter list. Sometimes people leave comments about why they unsubscribed. I like to read them because it helps me know better what my list likes, or doesn’t like, so I can serve my list members better.

The comment I received today made me laugh out loud. The guy said "BECAUSE THIS IS SPAM EMAIL - DUH!"

I felt like writing to him and telling him it most certainly is NOT spam, that he had to double opt-in to my list in order to receive my emails. (And I know exactly when and where he opted in, too.)

And that brings me to the point of this post… It sounds like maybe he had never received emails from me before or he wouldn’t have thought I was spamming him. It seems that even good old Aweber can’t get ALL emails delivered these days due to the heavy filters imposed by ISP’s.

I know we all get tons of true spam email, but it really bites when someone opts in for information and they don’t receive what they requested. Then when suddenly an email does get through they think it’s spam because by then they forgot they signed up for information.

I don’t know quite how to do it, but there’s gotta be a better way for ISP’s to filter out TRUE spam. If anyone has any ideas, please tell the rest of the world. Maybe we’ll get rid of all the "enlargement" and "drug" emails and receive what we really want in our email inbox.

I picked up a copy of Site Stealer yesterday and after reading every word of it I decided to promote it to my newsletter subscribers today because it’s full of good marketing tactics.

Little did I know I was going to offend one of my readers so much that he unsubscribed!

He wrote and told me he used to think I was an OK person, and that he has even bought a few products from me in the past, but if I’m going to promote stealing I should promote it elsewhere.

I emailed him back and explained that Site Stealer doesn’t actually teach you how to steal websites, but rather how to copy successful marketing tactics.

I thought I had cleared the air with my explanation, but I was wrong.

This reader wrote back and said "To quote from the sales letter ‘I call it "Site Stealing’ because straight-up that’s what it is."

At that point I wrote back and said "That’s sales hype, which unfortunately the ‘make money online’ niche has become accustomed to."

Once again, I thought I had cleared things up, but again I was mistaken. He wrote back saying "that’s a cop-out" and then he unsubscribed.

I’m quite upset over this, to say the least. To begin with, I included a note in my email this morning that Site Stealer isn’t illegal or immoral in any way.

But besides that, Site Stealer had a huge launch last week where dozens of marketers promoted it to their lists. And as near I can remember they also mentioned that it’s not illegal, it’s not really stealing, etc.

But it seems like this guy somehow missed all that noise and now he’s taken his disdain of what he thinks Site Stealer is about out on me.

Sal would probably say "Hey, fuggedaboutit!" but I can’t forget about it. My subscribers are my friends and I don’t want any of them to be upset or offended.

Sal, don’t let me catch you in a dark alley. I don’t like losing subscribers, especially over a misunderstanding like this. You don’t wanna mess with this little half-Italian woman!

So since I can’t give you a good punch in the chops for losing me a good subscriber, I’ll just sell Site Stealer for less than you’re selling it for. How’s that grab ya, buddy? Hey, fuggedaboutit!

I came across an interesting post at the Warrior Forum a few minutes ago and it made me so mad I felt I had to write this.

Actually, it wasn’t the post itself that got my goat. It was what I discovered about the forum member who made the post.

His post was simple… he said he has no money and no job and needs to make $400 by July 11th. He was asking for ideas on how to do that.

Being curious about the guy, I clicked through to his profile and what I saw appalled me to the point that I had to call him on it right there in the forum.

He didn’t even get my point and he seemed to think it was a joking matter!

I had intentions of putting the link to the forum thread here so you could view it for yourself, but it disappeared while I was typing this. I’m not sure how, because as far as I know only the forum moderators can delete threads and they had no reason to delete it.

Since I can’t post the thread I’ll give you the jist of it…

As I said, he was asking how he could make $400 by July 11th with no money for advertising or anything. I clicked through to view his homepage and what I read there told me this guy was so full of sh*t it’s turning his blue eyes brown!

I really don’t want to send traffic to his website, but I do want you to see his Rich Jerk style sales tactics to understand how completely full of doo-doo he is. So go read it here:

The Fraudster’s Website

My reply to his post basically said that I don’t understand why he’s broke and in debt because according to his home page he makes a fortune online so his ebook must not work as well as his sales letter claims it does.

I went on to point out that also according to his sales letter with his "large volume of sales" and the price he charges for the ebook it won’t take him very long to make $400.

And I couldn’t help one final thought to finish off my reply to his post. I told him that while his sales letter implies I’d be a "f*cking idiot" not to buy his ebook, I think I would be one if I did buy the ebook.

He replied to my post within a couple of minutes with "LOL yea, my page is still being worked on."

I wrote back that apparently he didn’t get my point at all and I mentioned something about deceptive advertising. Then the forum thread disappeared.

This guy is a classic case of bullsh*t in action!

Please, please, please always do your due diligence before buying into
someone’s BS! I know it isn’t always easy to know what’s right and wrong or who’s telling the truth and who’s not.

Here are some things to watch out for, taken right off this idiot’s sales page:

1. If you look at the top of the page you’ll notice he’s using free web hosting from GoDaddy.com. But according to the sales page he’s rich, so why doens’t he pay for hosting?

2. Inconsistencies in information… take a peek at the ClickBank screen shot. He’s actually pieced together information from 2 different time frames and they don’t even come close to adding up.

The first part shows sales from 2001-2002! The next part shows ClickBank totals for pay periods ending 9/16/06 and 10/1/06!

3. This one is hilarious - look at the newsletter opt-in form. He didn’t customize the directions for filling it out and apparently doesn’t know enough to remove the text that comes with the form!

If you’re not familiar with a person or product check with your friends. You can also look for reviews about the product or the marketer by doing a search at your favorite search engine. Find out as much as you can before you buy anything from anyone.

Video Marketing Your Ticket To Traffic
by Theresa Cahill
Copyright 2007 - All rights reserved

Making a video is fun, but making a profitable video is even better. Best of
all, to make a profitable video, all you need to do is create a video ‘how-to’
and provide links to your website inside that video. As for subject matter?
That’s truly the very best part because it doesn’t matter what your ‘how-to’
video covers.

Just be sure that as you create your new how to video that your website url is:

At best, displayed the whole time your video is running, or
At worse, displayed when the video first starts and right before it ends.

Let’s face it, people love how-to’s… and they search for them every day on a
very large scale. As an example, a friend of ours had this experience to share:

"Just a few days ago I was folding clothes, and on a whim I went to google
videos and typed in "how to fold a shirt". Sure enough there were a few videos
there. I watched them (and learned a very cool way to fold shirts), and it
impressed the kids too."

She then told us, "So here’s the thing. I’m not a professional shirt folder, I
wasn’t checking out the competition, I just did a search for something on a
whim, and then I watched a few videos."

There’s the key phrase - "ON A WHIM"

Internet marketers often find themselves with tunnel vision. They focus so
intently on what they have to offer that they miss the big wide world, and what
that world is doing while he or she is thinking exclusively about just their
own website.

Tunnel vision… if you have it (and we all get it, don’t worry), you need to
learn how to "Think Outside the Box!"

Let’s continue looking at the shirt folding scenario:

What if one of the shirt folding videos that was watched had had a url
displaying your website? Well, for openers, you could have had a visitor
(traffic) to your website. And, ideally, you may have had a buyer and long-term
client. People are curious animals. If your video was creative enough, it most
definitely can, and most likely will, generate a visit to your website.

The reality is that millions and millions of people are watching tons of videos
every day on every topic you could ever possibly imagine.

That’s worth repeating, "…on every topic you could ever possibly imagine."

So if you’re thinking, "Shouldn’t I create a video related to what I am
selling?" the answer is…. sure, if you have that ability, go for it. But the
truth is it doesn’t matter if you do it on topic to the product you are selling
or not…. the big thing is to make as many videos as you can about as many
things as you can and post them to all of the top video feed sites.

The second most important thing to remember is that as you post them, keyword
them to terms related to your video. Check sites like www.wordtracker.com and
make sure the keywords you are allowed to enter in connection with your video
are ones people are searching for! Keyword-driven, video-related quality
traffic and buyers… make that your goal!

Also keep in mind that you aren’t creating feature length films here. Your
videos can be anywhere from 1 minute to 10-15 minutes or any length in between.

Quiet on the set… Cameras rolling… Action!

==================================================

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Theresa Cahill invites you to further explore the unique qualities of how to
video marketing and for even more ideas on effective internet marketing see
what Molten Marketing can do for your website today!

Today I’m answering similar questions from two different readers…

"Hi! I would like to know if a blog is a best way to get subscribers. I’m
trying to put a squeeze page together to get subscribers, but all I have right
now is a blog. Do you have step-by-step instructions on how to put a squeeze
page together?"

"How can I build a list quickly and inexpensively"

A blog is a good way to get traffic because blogs get indexed more quickly than
websites. So you can build your list by sending visitors to your blog. But I
think the best and fastest way to build a list is to get your squeeze page "out
there."

In other words, you’ll want to promote your squeeze page in as many places as
possible to get subscribers. There are many places you can advertise for free
or very inexpensively.

There are classified ad sites and ezine advertising where you can place ads.
You can use your squeeze page link in your signature file at forums and in your
article resource box if you write and submit articles.

If you have any ebooks/reports/software that you’re giving away as viral
marketing tools have a link to your squeeze page inside of them.

Then once they’ve opted-in to your list you can send them to your blog or
website by using a link inside your welcome email.

To answer the part about step-by-step instructions for creating a squeeze page,
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything about that. What I do is study other
people’s squeeze pages for design as well as their ad copy to see what catches
my attention. Then I try to design my own squeeze pages based on that.

Wow! I just read a very powerful short report that pulls no punches about how some people would rather make excuses for not making money, than actually try to make money.

It reminded me of something a friend said to me recently as he was getting more and more discouraged about not making much money…

He said "I don’t have your contacts" and "I don’t lead your charmed life."

And just how does he think I got those contacts? It certainly isn’t because I lead a charmed life. I worked hard for them and everything else I have.

‘Nuff said or I’ll go on a rant about excuses.

As I said, this report pulls no punches. Right-click to download the free report: ExcuseMakers.

There are many ways to make a profit from Resell Rights products. The most popular (and laziest) way is to sell the product as your main offering and collect the one-time sales that come with it.

That’s OK, but with a little creativity, you can make more profits for your efforts.

Here are 4 quick and easy methods that you can use right now to give yourself an instant payraise selling Resell Rights products:

1. Upsell (fries with your burger)

When you sell the product, have another product (or products) to sell as an upsell or backend product. For instance, sell the resell rights product at $39.00, then have an upsell of a related product that you offer on your order page for an increased price, such as $49.00. Your upsell could even be a membership website, for which you would collect recurring monthly membership fees from your customers.

2. Backend (the dessert)

You can also advertise a backend product on the thank you page. This is a product that is offered after the purchase of the original product is made, for a different price. Backend products can cost more than the original product, the same, or even less.

3. Repackage (mulligan stew)

You’ll also profit more from your Resell Rights products by repackaging it, including more products, raising the value of the package, which then raises the price. If you have Master Resell Rights of the product, which allows you to sell the Resell Rights as well, you can create a nice package of various related products and sell Resell Rights to that package as well.

4. Lead Generator (I’ll Trade Ya)

You could simply give it away, if you are allowed to, by offering it on an opt-in page (squeeze page) to collect quality leads. A large list of targeted leads opens many profitable doors. For instance, you could enter into joint ventures to sell high ticket products to your list.

However, before you start using any method for increasing your profits with Resell Rights products, it’s very important that you read your license agreement to be sure you’re not in violation of any of the terms.

In the "Resell Rights Bootcamp" coaching program, you’ll learn in-depth strategies for creating an incredible income with Resell Rights products. You’ll discover a proven, easy to follow, step-by-step system that will show you how to build a lucrative Resell Rights business from scratch.

As you know, I’ve been answering readers’ Internet marketing questions over the
last few weeks. Here’s another one:

"Besides Craigslist, what are the best Websites to use to advertise my Website
for Free?"

There are tons of free classified ad sites where you should be able to find the
proper category to advertise your site. Just do a search for "free classified
ad sites" or "free advertising sites" and check out the first 10-20 listings.
Use any other keywords you can think of to do your search, too.

You can also do a search for ezines in your niche. Many publishers give free or
low cost ad space to their readers. As long as you target the ezines in your
niche you could get a lot of traffic from them.