nick usborne's blog

Not Me Mondays: Dr. Ralph Wilson.

I have known Ralph for over ten years now. He was perhaps the first person to thoroughly explore the needs of small business online. It may be hard to imagine in today’s world of instant gurus and miracle marketing solutions, but back in the mid-nineties very few people were thinking about how small business could succeed online.

Ralph jumped right in there. And he has been delivering help and advice to small business online ever since. That kind of continuity is very rare...sticking with one vision and one purpose for a decade and a half.

In fact, this year is the 15th anniversary of his website, Web Marketing Today.

When you go to his site, you won’t find a fifteen-year old site. By that, I mean the information there is not in the least “old”. There is a vast amount of useful and current information there, tons of articles, Ralph’s own books and publications, and a terrific collection of videos with other industry experts.

If you want to know more about marketing your business online, and are tired of listening to young gurus with surf boards and fast cars, you’ll find that Ralph delivers the kind of solid, proven advice you really need.

Here are three of his time-proven tips. They may not be hip or leading edge, but I know from my own experience that he is hitting the nail on the head every time.

1. Get a professionally designed website. Your site needs to present the best possible face to the world. It's the 'store front' of your business today. A good website builds credibility and trust. Use a content management system so that you can change and add content to the site yourself.

2. Make sure the site content is optimized for search engines. If people can't find you then you are missing out on lots of business. Many web designers still do not offer SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Title tags are the most important factor and the content on the page has to align with your title tags.

3. Start an email newsletter or a blog that people can sign up for by email. Use this vehicle to stay in touch with people and build a relationship with them. Use an email newsletter service -- they are not expensive and make it very easy to do yourself.

Learn more at Web Marketing Today.

Not Me Mondays: Bob Bly.

If you are freelance writer or copywriter and are looking for a role model, I can’t think of a better choice than Bob Bly.

But be warned: if you want to be like Bob, you’re going to have to work very, very hard.

He has been writing for a living since...I don’t even know...but I’m thinking some time soon after the end of the Crimean war.

Over the course of his career he has written copy for over a hundred different companies. When see the full list ion his website, it is quite dizzying.

And he is no slouch in the publicity department either. He has been on TV and radio shows including MoneyTalk 1350, The Advertising Show, Bernard Meltzer, Bill Bresnan, CNBC, Winning in Business, The Small Business Advocate and CBS Hard Copy.

He has also been featured and/or quoted in major media ranging from the LA Times and Nation's Business, to the New York Post and the National Enquirer.

Take note, aspiring freelancers: he works as hard on his marketing as he does on his writing.

Think he’s busy with all that?

In addition to his copywriting work, Bob has also written over 70 books. While most are about writing, copywriting and marketing, one of his titles - and I’m not even sure he would want me to tell you this - is on the subject of hot dogs..

On top of all this, he is a really nice guy. Not at all one of those, “I’m rich and better than you in every way” people.

You can learn more about Bob at Bly.com.

What is the difference between my two writing courses?

Good question. This was asked and answered, albeit briefly, within the comments thread of a previous post. But I though it worth bringing this topic to the “front page” and expanding on my answer.

Over the last two years I have written two difference courses, both of which focus on writing for the web.

The first one off the presses was Nick Usborne’s Million Dollar Secrets to Online Copywriting.

I wrote this course for anyone who wants to make a career of online copywriting. It covers just about every aspect of the online copywriter’s job, from writing home pages, content pages, sales pages, email, e-newsletters and more.

This is the course you want if you are thinking, “I want to make money selling my services as a professional online copywriter.” If you are a freelancer, you’ll be writing online copy for your clients. If you get a job, you’ll be writing online copy for your employer.

Either way, this course gives you the knowledge and tools to sell your services as an online copywriter.

My most recent program is How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites.

This program is not designed for use “in the workplace”. This is a course for anyone who likes the idea of creating a new stream of income by writing a website on a topic that interests them. You’ll be doing this at home, for yourself, probably part time.

You won’t have clients. You won’t be invoicing for the hours your work or charging anyone a project fee.

The time you spend writing your website is sweat equity. You’ll get your rewards when you start attracting traffic to your site and those visitors start clicking on money-making links on your pages.

I hope I have cleared up any confusion.

Get Nick Usborne’s Million Dollar Secrets to Online Copywriting if you want to charge clients for online copywriting services.

Get How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites if you want to sit at home and create a website of your own as a source of long-term residual income.

Don’t sell your prized possessions to make a few extra dollars. Use them as a theme for a website and make a LOT of extra dollars.

I was just reading an article about how some people are selling their most prized possessions just to make ends meet.

One person sold his vintage muscle car, someone else sold a collection of violins and another person sold his autograph collection.

A comment under the article made the point that these are all just “things”. But our most prized “things” have deep meaning for us.

I couldn’t help imagining these people taking an alternative course, writing a website about muscle cars, a website about musical instruments and a website about collecting autographs.

It would be ridiculous for me to try to reach these people, and absurd for me to think that everyone would jump at the idea of building their own money-making website.

But when people talk about their prized possessions, passions and hobbies I immediately think in terms of how great those would be as topics for websites.

Don’t sell the things you love...use that passion and knowledge to create a site that makes you enough money to keep those things, and buy more of them.

More about my How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites program...

Being on Twitter while launching a new product is a wonderful thing.

I have a confession to make. When I first started using Twitter I did so in the knowledge that it might come in handy to have the ears and eyes of a few extra people when I launched my program, How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites.

In other words, my original purpose on Twitter was simply to build a list of followers, catch their attention and let them know when I launched my program.

I have done exactly that, although I don’t know how many extra sales might have resulted from my involvement on Twitter.

However, I have discovered a few things along the way:

- Being active on Twitter has been a wonderful way for me to get back on touch with a lot of colleagues from way back, and meet a lot of new people too.

- I learn something new every day from the people I follow on Twitter.

- Being on Twitter transformed the “product launch” experience.

Let me expand on that last point.

From the day my program was launched, I started receiving Tweets from people who decided to buy it. Then I would hear from people who had just received their package in the mail. Then I began hearing from people who had dug in and got started.

For me, that is a wonderful feeling.

Usually when I write and publish something, I might receive the occasional email about it. But with this program I feel myself a whole lot closer to the people who buy it, simply because of the immediacy of Twitter.

Because I am accessible, right now, people can send me a Tweet about the decision to buy the program or even ask me questions when they get started on it.

Of course, this kind of immediacy and transparency wouldn’t work quite so well if I were fooling people into buying a third-rate product. But I am happy with what I wrote and am loving the fact that I hear from people who purchased it.

So while my original intention with Twitter was completely self-serving, my actual experience has been a whole lot richer and more rewarding than I ever anticipated.

Wow...the first week’s sales of “How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites” are way over what we predicted.

Well, that’s good. It’s nice, because I spent a huge amount of time researching and writing this program. All 65,000 words of it. It would have been disappointing if nobody wanted a copy.

Why is it selling so well at a time of deep recession?

In a way, I think the recession is helping with the sales.

People are fed up with entrusting their future to their employers and Wall Street.

People no longer trust their employers to keep them in work. And they certainly don’t trust Wall Street to take good care of their retirement investments.

Another way of looking at it is to recognize that people like the idea of taking control of their own income and future. Being able to create a micro-business of their own, which will reliably make money, is becoming increasingly attractive.

And yes, writing a money-making website is a micro-business. It is something you can do part-time, using your home computer, but it can also become a significant source of income outside of your regular work.

Ideally, one or money websites of your own will eventually replace the need to actually “go to work”. Or, if you get the timing right, your website income can hit the exact level you need for when you retire.

One way or another, I think the program is selling well simply because so many people are fed up with entrusting their future to companies and organizations which simply can’t be trusted.

Learn more and buy your own copy of How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites here...

Today is the last day to save $100 on the price of “How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites”.

As of tonight at midnight the price of my program will go up by $100...and there it will stay.

If you have been sitting on the fence and wondering whether to invest in this course, here are my own (hugely biased) views on the subject.

Generating revenue from information sites is by far my favorite way to make money.

I like it because my websites generate cash each month without it being necessary for me to go out and find clients. (As a freelancer for almost my entire adult life, the part I have enjoyed least is having to sell myself to prospective clients. I am not a good salesperson when it comes to selling myself. And I have always disliked the stress of knowing that I have to find more work for next month, and the next, and the next.)

I like it because my sites keep making money even if I ignore them for a few weeks.

I like it because so far the income from my information sites has not been adversely impacted by the recession.

I like it because after writing my first money-making website, I was able to apply what I learned and go right ahead and create a second one, and so on.

In fact, after completing some unrelated projects I am working on right now, I plan to start another major information site in May. Not about writing or copywriting. Not about coffee or coffee making. It will be on a completely different topic.

My 10-year plan is to be able to retire, knowing that I have maybe half a dozen active sites on different topics, all making money for me every day of the year.

I would feel secure about my retirement income, knowing that I had those sites working away for me.

I don’t trust Wall Street and I know I can’t enjoy my retirement on what the government might give me.

But I do know I can control and depend on my own websites.

That’s my plan, and I bet it could work for you as well.

Save $100 on How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites – but only if you buy it before midnight today...

If you work on it full-time, how quickly can a money-making website start generating a reasonable level of income?

Can you start making good money fast by working on your website full time?

Yes and no. You can certainly speed up the creation of the content and the marketing of the site, but you can't tell Google and the other major search engines to hurry up. They'll keep doing their thing at their own pace.

So...if you depend primarily on organic search for your traffic (which I do), then you need to be patient and it will take several months before you see your traffic get up to money-making levels.

That said, by working full time on the site, there are other things you can do.

First, in addition to getting your content created faster, you can explore other traffic sources. For instance, you can work hard with social media, getting in front of as many people as possible.

Or you could hit a home run by generating some fast and positive publicity through major media

Second, if I were in a real hurry, I would try to identify a niche that would generate a reasonable income with a reasonable number of visitors. As an example, through affiliate links on my coffee site I make affiliate commissions on the sale of coffee and coffee makers. A typical sale might be for $20 for coffee and $100 for a coffee maker. If I am earning 10% of those sales - $2 and $10 - you can see that I need a lot of traffic in order to make much money.

But if I had a site selling bedroom furniture a typical sale might be for $1,000 or more. Do you see what I mean? The higher the price point on the products or services you link to, the easier it will be to make a reasonable income with a limited amount of traffic.

All that said, I always make the point that making money with a content-rich website is NOT a way to make money fast. It's possible, but the norm is for your traffic and your income to grow gradually as you generate increasingly high levels of organic traffic.

Learn more about my How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites program here...

How I make money with my CoffeeDetective.com website.

Over the last few days, while I have been promoting my new program, How to Write your Own Money-Making Websites, I have received quite a few questions by email.

A fair percentage of those emails have asked me how I actually make any money from my site, CoffeeDetective.com.

(I mention CoffeeDetective.com in my promotions for the program, but within the program itself I use a lot of different examples of successful money-making websites.)

CoffeeDetective.com is my weekend website. I don’t have any professional background in the coffee business. I just like coffee and have learned quite a bit about it.

My first task with the site, always, is to write useful content for my readers. Once I have done that, I work to find ways to monetize the attention and trust of my readers.

I do this in two ways:

1.  I include Adsense ads on almost every page on the site. And I use blocks of ads of a size and in a position that experience has taught me will maximize clickthroughs.  There is no secret here. Google offers plenty of advice on the best size and position for its ads.

2. I also have signed up as an affiliate for various companies that sell coffee, coffee makers, coffee grinders and other related accessories. To be honest, I wouldn’t make much money as an affiliate if I linked only to pages selling coffee. I make a lot more money by linking to pages that sell coffee makers. A 10% commission on a $100 coffee maker nets me more than 10% of a $9 bag of coffee.

And that’s pretty much it for that site. There are certainly other ways to monetize information-based websites, but these are the two ways that work best for me. Between those two methods the site makes me somewhere between $2,500 and $6,500 a month. (The sales of coffee making equipment is very seasonal.)

There is more information on my money-making website program here...

Reasons to write your own money-making websites...

The huge downturn in the economy is impacting us financially in two key areas.

1.  Our ability to pay our bills - mortgage, credit cards, health care etc

2. Our ability to save for key life events - higher education, raising a family, retirement

Add to that the fact that we can no longer trust the institutions we used to rely on.

We can't trust our employers to keep us employed.

We can't trust Wall Street to grow or protect our savings.

The bottom line? We need to take steps to develop alternative sources of income over which we have complete control.

That's where writing your own money-making websites comes in. You don't need to spend much to get started. You don't need any specialist knowledge. You simply need to be able to write about a subject that already interests you.

And yes, it works. Work hard on your own website and you can add $500 - $5,000 to your monthly income.

Whether you need to pay urgent bills or want to save for the future - or both - that kind of extra income can make a huge different to your life.

How to write your own money-making websites...