A Lot of Little Things Equals Something Big

Here is a concept… Setup a lot of little things that each generate a small amount each on their own!

What do you get?

I read through the Google Sniper (yes I bought it!) and I've set up a couple of new sites. Each are promoting products on Clickbank. I've already generated $500 through one site and $200 through another – in less than one month.

I had to purchase domain names and setup hosting, but I have everything in place to do that easily and quickly.

I did just a little bit of research as George explains – actually I started by researching the HOTEST products on Clcikbank and then researched the niches that they belong to. I was able to come up with a couple of 'OK' domain names – meaning that they weren't absolutely the best, but they would work. It didn't take much and it didn't cost me anything but my time to do the research.

My Question is - Why do so many want a lot of money from just one thing when they can certainly have a little bit of money from a lot of things?

You see, if I take these sites that make even $200/mo and just keep doing the research, and adding more and more… and more… before very long I could have 20 sites doing this…

20 x $200 = $4,000 per month ( $48,000/yr)

50 x $200 = $10,000 per month ( $120,000/yr)

100 x $200 = $20,000 per month ( $240,000/yr)

Note: Most products earn the promoting affiliate $35 – $60 per sale – meaning 4 to 6 sales per month to earn just $200 per month.

From the questions that I'm receiving via Email and through this site, I would believe that maybe this concept isn't acceptable as a business model. I think that it is the perfect business model!

Here's why this is important…

Remember in an earlier post I told you that I had been working in just one niche? And that niche pretty much went away – well at least from the standpoint of buying customers… Don't put all of your eggs in one basket – you will have a lot of broken eggs should that basket be dropped.

To be honest with you this 'program' or 'system' is so simple, and once you've done a couple it's even easier… why wouldn't one give it a try?!?!

There is no Pay Per Click (PPC) or any other advertising expense. What are the real costs? For the most part it's just your time and brain power – sorry you do need to be able to think to make this work.

Remember that it doesn't happen over night!

To your continued success,

Michael Hobach

P.S. – I just lauched another site – Gurus Exposed  (http://GurusExposed.com ) – by the time you get to this there should be the first review posted there.

What is it that I know that makes me an expert

I'll bet you are wondering what it is that makes me an expert to sit here and talk to you about making money and especially doing it online…

First – I'm by no means an expert!

I have a good friend who keeps telling me that I'm an expert in Internet Technology and that I keep too much to myself. Well – I do know a lot and I have done a lot… but that doesn't make me an expert – at least not in my opinion!

But here's the thing…

I used to work really hard – you know what I mean! Then things really changed for me and a number of years ago I discovered how it was possible to stop trading my time for a paycheck. I still have family members, friends and neighbors who have asked outloud – how is it that you are able to sit at home and still have all of the things that they work so hard for by going to a job. Actually my ex wife beat on me a lot about not going to work and having a job.

In our lifetime we have been conditioned to believe that we have to work for some big corporation and in return we get paid and have all of these great benefits. Well, I think it's become obvious in the last couple of years that relying on some big corporation for our livelihood isn't the best idea. Our income is defined by our position and company policy. Over achievers seldom receive the compensation they deserve. True – some days we can just show up and still get paid – but is that really fair?

I was raised to be different and think outside the box

My father always – and I mean always, reminded me that I don't have to be like everyone else. I don't have to do what they do or think what they think! So many people are just 'clones' of everyone else around them. Are you?

To make insane amounts of money online and off line requires that you think differently

Personally, I have a desire to make enough money to pay my bills, and live comfortably – not unrealistic! I do want enough money so that I can continue to help others who are less fortunate than me, but the goal is to teach them to help themselves. Our society today does not know how to do that! Truth!

Motivation comes in weird ways

To be honest – a major motivating factor in my life to make a total change on how I earn a living came about in 2001 with some issues with my now ex wife. Divorce was inevitable, and it became clear that I needed to do what I needed to do for myself and my children. Her desires no longer mattered.

The ISP business that I had created, and where I worked long hours, was just another JOB – in fact I worked a lot harder than I did when I had a JOB with a company that I didn't own… duh!

The beginning of the rest of my life

In 2001 when we moved out here to the lake I knew that I would have the environment to work on the things that I really needed to work on, including myself.

I tried a lot of things including Network Marketing – won't ever do that again unless it's just to get a good product at a better price!

I also went back to what I love – truly my passion… the Internet from a marketing and and sales standpoint. You see the business that I was trying to separate myself from was a service company – mostly providing high-speed connections to local businesses. It was very much hands on and more work focused and not really creative focused for me. The technology behind everything that you see online is interesting to me – and it was my goal to make it simple to implement and easy to scale.

I do have another passion – Real Estate. I have little fear of failure when it comes to things like Real Estate (RE). Well actually I have little fear of failure when it comes to just about anything – except family!

My passion in Real Estate put me on a quest to become more knowledgeable about Real Estate transactions – at the time I had bought and sold 9 homes (that I have lived in) and bought and sold 2 commercial properties.

I went to school to get my license to originate mortgages – the learning experience was what I really wanted – I had no intention of ever originating a mortgage though. In my life I have done this a lot to learn things that I want to know. Yes I did get my license in the state of Wisconsin – no it's no longer active as I let it expire.

At the same time that I started doing some RE Short Sales I also got involved online with some other people doing the same. I came to realize that there was demand for what I knew about RE and Foreclosures – mind you I learned what I knew on my own. As a result of my new front line passion I started writing e-books and training material. Amazingly I was making more money with almost no work right from the start. I started doing more and more and the more I integrated the 'technology' part, the more money I was making – again with almost no real work on my part!

The rise and fall of a 'niche'

The Real Estate Short Sale / Foreclosure market online was truly one of those huge niches that we all would love to be a part of. I was, and for the most part I did everything right! The one thing that I did wrong was I focused on just one niche and I didn't pay attention to what was really going to happen to it when things changed in the market and our economy. We all saw it coming – but I'm not sure that everyone really knew what it meant. Now we do – that niche is still there, but there are no buyers of the things that we were selling anymore. Rather, I should say that the buyers are still there, but they are trying hard to keep their head above water so they aren't able to spend the money. Fair?

The point is that most people who buy things like my books are those who want to be a Real Estate Investor. Some are already REI's and they wanted to know more on the subjects I wrote about. Some are Realtors who where/are trying to learn another way to use what they already know. But the 'buyers' who really mattered were those who saw an opportunity and wanted to do that – most just bought the books that were never read… Remember all the late night infomercials about Real Estate in the 80's and 90's? Yep I had boxes of that stuff too… most buyers never do a thing with their purchase – and now with the economy they can't even imagine Investing in Real Estate. Oh well…

In the mean time

While I was writing my books and marketing them online I discovered how easy it was to make money! Actually I discovered how easy it was to make money online regardless if it was my product or someone else's product. In a previous post here I indicated how I was making six figures on my books and training alone. I didn't mention that I was also making money promoting other people's products and services.

There was one e-book from ClickBank that I was promoting – not promoting hard – but promoting… I was earning just under $4k per month promoting this e-book alone as an affiliate. It was easy! Then all of a sudden that book was no longer available

I was also promoting a service that I found on Commission Junction, that made me about $300 per month. Now this was a $29.99/mo service where I received $2.99 each month on every customer that I referred. Not a lot of money, but the concept was awesome don't you think?

There were other promotions that I offered to my list that earned me a lot of money – it all adds up!

During this time I also did some major eBay stuff too – you see there are distributors out there who will drop-ship products directly to your customers – your company name appears on all material that the customer sees. On eBay they have this 'Power Seller' program… from month one I realized more than $4,000 a month in sales on eBay. After three months I got their 'Power Seller' banner on my store. What was I selling? High-end electronics! My biggest seller was a muli-function – multi-device remote from Sony. It was about $130 and everyone wanted one!

What I've learned and what I'm willing to share with you…

Times are tight and our economy isn't playing nice with our expected quality of life. We can all make small changes in how we think and what we do to improve this.

There is a simple concept to understand - if you don't know something (like how to make money online) you will either have to learn it the hard way – by researching things and trial & error as I have, or you will have to pay to learn how this all works by purchasing programs that teach you the concepts.

Understand too that there is no such thing as just one way to make money online! And there is no ONE program that will show (teach) you everything that you need to know. Stop asking me for the ONE program that you need to purchase!

There is one thing that is not negotiable – you will have to do some work… and you will be out of your comfort zone… and it won't happen overnight!

It will happen – just not overnight!

Stop looking for the quick fix!

If you are broke and unemployed – get a job and take care of business… if you are employed, but just not making ends meet realize that buying a program online will not automatically fix your financial situation!

You won't learn this overnight and you won't start making money today.

Even the no-cost or Free programs have some expense to get started – usually domain name registration (~ $10/yr) and hosting (~ $5/mo min).

Also realize that I am not you – I do have the means and knowledge to get a brand new web site up within minutes – I own servers and have hosting already online. Most people already online have these things in place. I can register a domain name and have it live in 5 minutes – seriously…. I can create the needed graphics or pick a 'theme' within minutes and have it on the web site.

You will be able to do this too – maybe not right now, but if you really want to make money on the Internet then some day soon you will be able to move that fast on a new idea.

Sorry for the length of this post – I get long winded sometimes.

I hope you find some words of encouragement in this post, and it is my desire to motivate you to do what you need to do to get what you want! Does that make sense?

To your continued success…

Michael Hobach

Making A Living Online –

My entire life I have worked hard and done more than my share. In 1995, as I've mentioned before, I started my own ISP business. I have never worked so hard – and I've promised myself that I wouldn't do that again! It wasn't the hard work so much as the commitment of my time.

In 2001 I moved away from the office – I used to live within 10 minutes of the office and datacenter. My time was always being eaten up by the business. I moved to more than 30 minutes from the office and started to pull back – my son was now in charge… well he had the responsibility at least.

I slowly pulled away from the day to day business and started looking at some things that would give me some freedom. You see working for yourself doesn't always mean that you have freedom to do a lot of fun things!

I did take a lot of vacations during the early 2000's – mostly to Florida where I bought a timeshare. BTW – don't ever do this! If you have cash to pay for one of these things like I did then put the money into a condo or some other property. My opinion at this point of course.

In 2004 I dove head first into something that has always been an interest of mine – Real Estate! Yep – I figured out how to flip properties with a single back-to-back closing. I was encouraged to write an e-book and all I will say is that the rest is history!

I've written a number of e-books for the Real Estate niche – and between 2004 and 2007 I made a really good living on these books and marketing to this niche. I also went through a divorce at the same time and my energy was not focused at all from time to time. I did enjoy the automatic income and the easy life. 

You see, there are a lot of ways to make money online. The main point and something you need to really realize – you must set a course and never look back. My books, training, and other online services made me a good chunk of change – actually, I was enjoying online sales in excess of $100k per year just from the sales of my books. In 2008 that dropped to about $30k per year because of the economy and the Real Estate market. Most 'wannabes' just couldn't see how this could work.

Well I can tell you that I've flipped a number of properties for myself and I've overseen a bunch more. On average I would pocket about $19k per transaction. Not too bad considering I just did all of the leg work and thinking…

That's all gone now – I've pretty much pulled out of the Real Estate market niche. I still work on simple projects and maintain several web sites. Actually you can see the part of my collection of my books that still applies to the market today at http://ShortSaleBooks.com – the sales keep coming in, but I can't pay the bills with sales from this one niche.

Over the last couple of years I've worked to get my life back together and to get a better focus on what I was doing – I still earn a good living online, but I'm working to diversify. You see while Real Estate and the RE niche provided a good income for a number of years, it wasn't my real passion. And because the RE niche was a really hot niche at the time – a lot of 'buyers' – it made me a lot of money… I ignored my first rule – diversification.

So what is my real passion? The technology that runs the Internet of course!

I've been involved in technology my entire life – I love to see web sites come to life and I love to see them rise to the top of the search engines. This is where I live…

Now I'm finding a lot of little niches where I can apply what I know – it's working. And I'm going to share some of this with you here on this site so stay tuned.

Here's something interesting – did you know that the tattoo niche is hot but not many marketers are participating… hmmm… I see an opportunity. Let me do some research!

No I don't have any tattoos and I don't know anything about tattoos… although I have dated several women with tattoos…

To your continued success…

Michael Hobach

What Does It Really Take To Make Money Online?

I better get to this sooner rather than later…

I'm going to present the condensed version of what it takes to make money online – there are a lot of options, and you can choose what works best for you. For now lets just keep this simple…

The Product or Service

What you sell is more important than how you sell it.

Understand that the most profitable product or service is one that you have created and you have control over. Until you get to that point – where you can create your own product or service, consider the roll of affiliate. Being an affiliate just means that you market someone else's product or service and get paid for your efforts.

As an affiliate you can choose products from many sites including the best known Clickbank. There are other networks where you can earn your commission from promoting real-world products like Dish Network, Direct TV, and more.

Here are just a few of the places to look… Clickbank, Commission Junction, Link Share, Google, Amazon.com, eBay, and others. In fact, almost every product or service is available someplace online through an affiliate program.

What To Sell

I think the 'What to sell' topic is the place that most people stumble…

The best way to state this is to say that you want to pick something that people are buying! I don't mean that it's something that people just like – I'm talking about something that is so hot that once you put it out there you can't stop the people from hitting your site and buying what you are selling.

Here is an example – it's the beginning of October and within a couple of weeks people (adults – who have money to buy) will be participating in Halloween. So what you say… have you looked at the sexy adult costumes that are out there? Now if you knew how all of this works what do you think would happen if you became an affiliate to the Playboy Sexy Costume site – yes this does exist… and what if you did your research and created a site to showcase these sexy costumes?

Hmmm…

BTW – if you wanted to be an affiliate for the Playboy Sexy Costume site you would need to have a Commission Junction account and apply to be an affiliate… http://cj.com to get to the Commission Junction web site.

How To Sell Whatever You Are Going To Sell

There are a couple of ways to actually present and promote the item(s) that you have chosen to sell. Ignore the fact that you will have to get people to a web site or web page for now…

In the beginning, people who have limited financial means might choose to use a free Blog like http://wordpress.com where you would have a shared environment to create your WordPress Blog. There are limitations, but this is someplace to start.

The beginner could also use Squidoo – http://www.squidoo.com – which is like a Blog in the way that the world sees it, but on Squidoo they call these pages or posts "a Lens". Don't worry – I didn't get it at first either.

So what would you write about?

You might be an expert or appear to be an expert on the subject at hand.

Maybe you are simply reviewing several products/services in a specific niche. Regardless of what you right about, you are not selling on these pages – you are pre-selling or suggesting a product/service – a big difference. The more you write the better your chances of course.

Now I'm not going to go into details here as there are so many programs that do an excellent gob of explaining how this part works.

Now keep in mind that you initially will be doing this for a specific niche or a specific product/service. As you grow your business you will just be replicating this to other products/services.

Initially the free sites will work, but at some point you will want to switch to your own web site(s) and your own hosting account – you will have total control over how this works.

Simple re-direct to the product web site

In some cases it is permitable or desirable to simply redirect a specific URL that you control to the product/service web site through your very own affiliate link – so that you get credit for the sale. Keep in mind that this isn't always possible – in many cases like coming off of Google or Yahoo, you won't be allowed to redirect.

Visit Squidoo and the WordPress site I showed you above – you will see how people are using these FREE services to make affiliate $$$.

Driving Traffic To Your Squidoo Lens or Blog

The only thing left to do is to get people to your pre-sales or review pages. There are several ways to do this…

The FREE method

If you are on a really tight budget you can just wait for your buyers to find you – they will eventually!

Seriously – there are several ways to get buyers to your sales pages. IF you are using Squidoo or a Blog to promote a product or service, you will know that these two generate a lot of traffic on their own… people will find you!

Keep in mind that generating 'Organic' traffic means FREE traffic! This means that your pages are showing up high on the results page when someone searches for what you are selling.

To get your ad or review or whatever you have created high in the search results. This is accomplished through careful writing and using the key word/phrase that you are trying to rank high on creatively in the title and throughout what you write.

Articles - some promote writing articles and submitting them to article sites like ezinarticles.com. Articles work, but may take some time to start generating traffic to your web site.

Forum & Blog Posts – some promote plastering your opinions on other people's Blog sites, or adding your site URL to your signature on Forums. These work too – but again, you will need to do a lot of work to get these to register and actually drive traffic to your site.

Social Networking – you can certainly use MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and others to promote what you are doing and get traffic to your sites. This is very easy to do and it shouldn't cost you a cent. The time thing comes into play again, and of course it depends on how many people you have following you on these sites.

Other means – there are a whole lot of other options too. You need to be aware that just about anything that comes in contact with other people both online and off can be used to promote your site(s). Don't pass up opportunities…

The Pay method

This is what everyone is trying to avoid – paying to promote their affiliate products and services…

Google PPC – or Pay Per Click text ads – this is where you create campaigns on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engine sites – your ads are displayed as you define in the search results of people looking for things online. While some avoid this as a means to get buyers to your offer, it is one of the most effective ways to accomplish your marketing.

Google banner ads on specific web sites (content network)  – Google has an option that I don't think many beginners use – they should! Create standard banner ads and through Googles network have them appear on specific site. This is usually used to have your ads appear on those sites who are using Google Adsense to monitize their web sites. More about this later!

I've had very good success using simple banner ads on competing web sites and even MySpace – yes MySpace does support Google adsense.

MySpace Ads – This is new and very inexpensive. You have access to the whole MySpace community. You can easily create graphic ads using their tools. Ads will only appear on MySpace pages when you use their advertising.

Advertising Networks and PPV/PPC – There are advertising networks out there that sell advertising space on very popular web sites. Usually these sites have a graphic or link with a lable like "Advertise Here". These networks also provide Pay per view and pay per click billing models. If your ads are sharp and attract a lot of clicks, the pay per view model might be very cost effective. One network to check out is http://etology.com .

There are others – you just need to find them!

How To Pick Something To Promote or Sell

Sometimes picking just one thing to promote is really difficult. So don't just promote or sell one thing! Choose a niche – like health, or relationships, or pets, or ???

I can tell you that what continues to be really hot online are the 3 that I just mentioned….

Health

• Losing weight
• Six-pack Abs
• Improving your health
• Dealing with some specific illness

Relationships

• Picking up women
• Getting your ex back
• Improving your sex life

Pets

• Dog Training
• Getting your dog to stop bitting/barking
• Dog Grooming

Finances

• Setting up a budget
• Making money
• Saving money
• Getting out of debt
• Job loss or Job protection tips

Usually topics where there is a change happening are good choices. We will cover more topics over time, but this is the beginning.

Start with one Niche and one product. Then add more products to that Niche and then expand to multiple Niches!

To Your Continued Success…

Michael Hobach