Paying Hobby

Focusing on WritePublishPromote.com

2011-07-01T15:50:00.000+01:00

I won't be posting on the Paying Hobby blog for a while. What with writing for clients, building the WritePublishPromote.com website up and everything else, there just isn't time.

I'll be back on here in a few months, I should imagine, as things settle down over on WWP. In the meantime, I'm posting my AllVoices new feed here as a way to at least keep this site in the loop.

gseymour's News

Out of the Dark

2011-04-28T15:47:00.000+01:00

Ok, so this blog has been dark for a while. Now it's not. Let me give you a quick explanation of why on both counts:
The blog went dark for two main reasons:
1) Having got half way through the planning of a business blueprint, I realised after a conversation one day between other bloggers who were trying to work their way to early retirement that that's not what I want. The four hour work week is all well and good, but I'd only want to retire to write, and I do that for a living now anyway, so what's the point?
2) My main client, the University of Phoenix, upped my workload by a factor of three, leaving very little time for anything else. While that meant good money, it also meant no blogging or even any other article writing for a while because I was in the final prep stages for release of my first novel, Moroaica.
It's now not dark because the novel is finally out and available on Amazon.com, and we all know that means getting back out there if only to plug the book. My non-fiction article writing schedule is still pretty demanding, but I have the research-write-rest-edit cycle sorted now so that I can get two articles a day done in around four hours, leaving some time for all that other stuff; promotion, blogging, writing the next novel etc.
And that's the way I like my life.

7 day information products - you name the price

2010-07-23T16:04:00.000+01:00

You'll have to move fast on this one if you want to get the new 7 Day Information Products training course and set your own price for it, as the deadline is tomorrow. Just go to http://7dayinfoproducts.com/ and make a donation and it's yours.

Just a shoutout for the SteveScottSite

2010-07-18T13:32:00.000+01:00

I'm having a bit of a 'none day' today, so I thought I'd take some time out of my writing schedule and instead of posting more about the process of working through my business blueprint, just give a shout out to one of the most helpful blogs I've found.

Steve is currently travelling around Europe on the strength of his online passive income, built through affiliate marketing and the sales of information products, but his SteveSocttSite Blog offers a boat load of useful posts. At the moment he's running a competition for one user to receive a critique of any online business.

Considering Steve only has around 15 hours a week to spend in his business during his travels, bagging his time will be a huge value to one lucky reader, so why not vitit now and post your entry in his http://www.stevescottsite.com/the-my-first-real-guinness-contest.

Down to three

2010-07-17T16:28:00.000+01:00

I'm basically down to three ideas to work with now.

Continue with the paying hobby theme, with a few changes, and produce informationproducts designed to answer the general questions people moving from an amateur to professional in any hobby will need to consider, such as

setting up a small business
self employment and tax issues for the hobbyist
promoting and marketing a hobby business
preventing your hobby business from losing it's fun factor

Go with the 'Hostage Negotiator' series and produce information products on relationships and attitudes, using interviews with professionals and relating it to hostage negotiation techniques.
Flowers, flower arranging and floristry. Focusing on 'how to' materials for basic designs, home decor ideas, florists garden plans for a cuttings garden etc.

Now, according to the preliminary Google benchmarking, the flowers and floristry sites would receive more visitors (born out by my own experience of having a website to promote my florist shop) than paid hobby, which in turn should be more more popular than the relationship based hostage negotiation idea.

As I said yesterday, though, that's looking purely at visitor stats benchmarking, not at the profit potential of each idea. So I'm going to use some ideas from Steve Scott, courtesy of his Info income coaching class

Clickbank marketplace isn't great for the flowers or gardening. There are products, but they have very low gravity and affiliate referrals, so they are not popular with affiliates for promotion. Things look a lot healthier for the negotiation idea, with paying hobby falling somewhere between the two.
I'm off now to check out some forums,43 Things and Yahoo Answers and
Ezine Articles to see how each idea fares. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Making sense of the Google Benchmarking figures

2010-07-16T12:58:00.072+01:00

Hopefully, I just posted the raw data from my Google benchmarking experiment for the top ten categories for web sites based on the average number of visitors a site of the same size could expect to attract over the same period of time in each category.

As you may remember, the top ten categories overall were:

Food & Drink 70
Industries 69
Recreation 68
Travel 65
Animals 63
Home & Garden 60
Automotive 59
Health 58
Beauty & Personal Care 56
Local 54

Further exploration of these revealed some interesting observations:

Within Food and drink, the strongest category overall, the top performing sub category was restaurant supplies with 102, but this was out performed by a number of sub cetegories in other subjects, namely:

Veterinarians            152
Valves Hoses & Fittings        144
Plastics & Polymers           124
Metals & Mining             117
Packaging               111
Trucks & SUVs         107
Rail Transport               106
Industrial Materials & Equipment     104
Cosmetic Surgery            103

All of which is great news if you're a vet, or understand the industries highlighted, as it suggests these are areas where there is a high demand for little available information. However, none of these categories are any use to me.

The Internet category was far and away the worst performing of the lot, suggesting that the whole area is oversubscribed with poor quality websites. Even the top performing sub categories look poor in comparison to most other top level categories:

Skins Themes & Screensavers                     24
Search Engine Optimization & Marketing     22
Web Stats & Analytics       14
Online Goodies    13
File Sharing & Hosting    6
MySpace Codes & Graphics       6
Search Engines                                          6
Affiliate Programs                                      5
Web Services                                            3
Email & Messaging    3
Internet                                                   2
Web Portals                                             1
Web Hosting & Domain Registration 1
Web Design & Development    0

The "big four" niche areas as touted by so many would be gurus actually perfomed

Business                     39
Dating & Relationships    19
Health                           58
Hobbies                       53

Putting squarely in the middle of the field. Of course that's only considering traffic, not profit potential, and Google's categorization system is somewhat eccentric to say the least, but it does appear to call some of their "wisdom" into question.

looking at my interests, skills and experiences and comparing them to Google's benchmarking categories, I'm left with the following information:

Dancing	98
Aquaculture	98
Wine	87
Home Furnishings	83
Alcoholic Beverages	76
Crops &Seed	73
Food &Drink	70
Flowers	68
Cooking &Recipes	67
Gardening	63
Weddings	63
Home & Garden	60
Liquor	59
Health	58
Obesity	55
Interior Design	54
Hobbies	53
Crafts	53
Environmental Issues	52
Parties & Occasions	50
Vocational & Continuing Education	50
Horticulture	45
Parenting & Family	43
Flowers Gifts & Greetings	40
Distance Learning	31
Business Plans & Presentations	30
Homemaking & Interior Decor	30
Music	28
Self-Help & Motivational	28
Nutrition	28
Writing & Editing Services	27
Women's Interests	24
Search Engine Optimization & Marketing	22
Special & Restricted Diets	22
Podcasting	21
Dating & Relationships	19
How-To & Expert Content	17
Blogging Resources & Services	14
Weight Loss	14
Small Business	4
Home Office	3

Tomorrow I'll be breaking down what this means to my niche idea creation process, and where I'll be going next to test the validity of some of my ideas.

Google Benchmarking data

2010-07-16T12:48:00.005+01:00

	Visits	PageViews	Pages/visit	Bounce	Time onSite	New Visit %
paying-hobby blog	95	173	1.82	64.21	2.42	42.21

all sites	7	12	1.71	34.78	0.03	56.05

Food & Drink	70	158	2.26	42.65	0.41	66.70
Nonalcoholic Beverages	46	96	2.09	44.05	32.00	69.28
Food Retailers	58	143	2.47	36.12	0.46	67.10
Culinary Training	45	99	2.20	36.92	0.38	62.95
Alcoholic Beverages	76	180	2.37	42.00	0.45	69.70
Beer	61	126	2.07	43.76	0.33	67.27
Wine	87	219	2.52	40.69	0.52	70.91
Liquor	59	121	2.05	45.59	0.31	69.12
Cookware	56	130	2.32	44.57	0.41	66.91
Restaurants	91	234	2.57	35.38	0.54	68.54
Restaurant Supply	102	293	2.87	39.78	1.03	71.58
Cooking & Recipes	67	136	2.03	46.57	0.34	64.54

Industries	69	173	2.51	40.83	0.51	69.65
Textiles & Paper	81	218	2.69	40.16	0.59	63.01
Industrial Materials & Equipment	104	287	2.76	39.16	1.07	74.54
Generators	68	155	2.28	43.69	0.50	82.39
Valves Hoses & Fittings	144	402	2.79	39.51	1.19	74.80
Heavy Machinery	102	285	2.79	39.23	1.10	74.37
Design	44	97	2.20	40.98	0.28	65.27
Interior Design	54	132	2.44	38.10	0.41	66.88
Architecture	70	188	2.69	37.58	0.48	68.32
Graphic Design & Publishing	26	47	1.81	44.45	0.11	61.52
Manufacturing	99	250	2.53	43.10	0.59	70.25
Factory Automation	102	246	2.41	46.26	0.53	71.84
Energy & Utilities	62	146	2.35	42.95	0.49	69.15
Electricity	48	105	2.19	43.50	0.41	65.52
Alternative Energy	49	106	2.16	45.56	0.43	69.43
Waste Management	82	205	2.50	41.60	1.00	73.18
Oil & Gas	71	167	2.35	42.87	0.49	65.86
Engineering Technology	55	129	2.35	41.96	0.41	66.82
Metals & Mining	117	326	2.79	39.95	1.10	68.77
Aerospace & Defense	61	124	2.03	48.14	0.37	64.96
Space Technology	43	80	1.86	54.62	0.27	61.52
Pharmaceutical & Biotech	60	138	2.30	44.26	0.49	66.25
Chemicals	95	247	2.60	40.48	1.05	70.33
Coatings & Adhesives	95	266	2.80	40.67	1.12	71.33
Cleaning Agents	73	175	2.40	41.70	0.51	66.36
Plastics & Polymers	124	328	2.65	39.53	1.11	72.36
Retail Trade	77	192	2.49	41.18	0.52	68.00
Retail Equipment & Technology	93	234	2.52	41.74	0.57	69.40
Agriculture & Forestry	77	195	2.53	40.54	0.59	65.50
Livestock	75	202	2.69	36.75	1.05	63.47
Forestry	96	242	2.52	47.04	1.04	67.48
Aquaculture	98	276	2.82	33.61	1.09	63.06
Horticulture	45	99	2.20	40.11	0.35	73.91
Food Production	82	207	2.52	41.14	0.59	67.01
Agricultural Equipment	102	288	2.82	37.73	1.14	69.08
Crops & Seed	73	181	2.48	42.95	1.04	58.71
Transportation & Logistics	67	161	2.40	41.74	0.50	69.58
Maritime Transport	84	208	2.48	43.06	1.03	67.65
Distribution & Logistics	45	97	2.16	45.06	0.39	70.79
Couriers & Messengers	44	94	2.14	44.43	0.34	65.55
Aviation	76	178	2.34	43.26	0.53	68.95
Urban Transport	65	155	2.38	41.14	0.48	69.35
Packaging	111	308	2.77	39.81	1.07	74.13
Freight & Trucking	62	152	2.45	40.32	0.49	68.62
Rail Transport	106	280	2.64	43.26	1.00	62.06
Moving & Relocation	68	165	2.43	40.33	0.53	75.03
Import & Export	36	76	2.11	45.27	0.35	65.41
Construction & Maintenance	68	177	2.60	39.53	0.53	71.73
Civil Engineering	79	199	2.52	41.51	0.55	69.19
Construction Contractors	35	88	2.51	34.46	0.36	71.28
Urban & Regional Planning	71	181	2.55	41.22	0.59	63.17
Building Materials	77	198	2.57	40.74	0.55	73.97
Plumbing Fixtures & Equipment	51	130	2.55	39.73	0.47	68.36
Doors & Windows	83	233	2.81	37.13	1.02	76.89
Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning	70	160	2.29	46.72	0.46	76.58
Wood & Plastics	72	194	2.69	36.76	0.58	73.16
Flooring	69	187	2.71	36.60	0.56	75.11
Nails Screws & Fasteners	97	279	2.88	40.21	1.14	69.25
Property Development	61	162	2.66	34.14	0.59	69.42

Recreation	68	155	2.28	45.13	0.43	53.00
Outdoors	79	191	2.42	41.56	0.55	67.12
Hunting & Shooting	80	206	2.58	38.71	0.58	68.29
Hiking & Camping	78	177	2.27	43.76	0.49	69.65
Fishing	80	192	2.40	42.04	0.57	65.24
Boating	96	249	2.59	40.91	1.04	69.86
Hobbies	53	109	2.06	51.90	0.27	37.24
Crafts	53	106	2.00	53.43	0.26	34.12
Radio Control & Modeling	56	123	2.20	45.59	0.39	64.32
Paintball	51	111	2.18	39.80	0.33	63.90
Equestrian	96	289	3.01	31.73	1.13	63.66
Cycling	77	160	2.08	47.43	0.40	62.47
Running	49	92	1.88	48.29	0.26	54.05
Surf & Swim	70	160	2.29	44.79	0.53	66.40

Travel	65	153	2.35	39.25	0.51	70.37
Air Travel	33	62	1.88	47.03	0.25	65.29
Vacation Destinations	44	94	2.14	43.41	0.36	67.74
Las Vegas	35	72	2.06	40.60	0.30	69.00
Mexico	69	162	2.35	41.90	0.59	63.02
Caribbean Islands	58	132	2.28	46.21	0.50	68.84
Australia	56	136	2.43	42.21	0.58	70.25
New York City	45	89	1.98	43.12	0.24	65.06
Hawaii	49	107	2.18	43.27	0.39	65.28
Cruises & Charters	40	83	2.08	46.97	0.37	63.63
Bus & Rail	38	81	2.13	41.82	0.32	66.88
Car Rental & Taxi Services	67	160	2.39	38.94	0.50	77.96
Hotels & Accommodations	90	241	2.68	34.68	1.08	73.06
Attractions & Activities	56	124	2.21	42.53	0.41	68.15
Adventure Travel	63	148	2.35	44.67	0.58	65.05

Animals	63	146	2.32	43.45	0.44	64.24
Veterinarians	152	412	2.71	40.27	1.11	68.16
Wildlife	51	102	2.00	48.63	0.28	63.44
Pets	61	146	2.39	38.52	0.45	63.64
Exotic Pets	42	85	2.02	32.92	0.31	68.51
Pet Food & Supplies	49	115	2.35	42.41	0.41	66.21

Home & Garden	60	149	2.48	40.35	0.46	70.72
Homemaking & Interior Decor	30	71	2.37	37.98	0.31	59.09
Domestic Services	37	85	2.30	39.69	0.37	72.12
Home Furnishings	83	229	2.76	38.61	0.55	71.91
Lighting	76	192	2.53	42.68	0.53	71.33
Home Improvement	61	152	2.49	40.55	0.47	73.31
Pest Control	62	139	2.24	48.75	0.46	70.65
Home Appliances	57	137	2.40	41.76	0.46	73.35
Gardening	63	152	2.41	42.44	0.44	71.43

Automotive	59	137	2.32	39.59	0.44	70.79
Vehicle Maintenance	61	141	2.31	42.97	0.42	73.63
Auto Financing	21	39	1.86	43.16	0.21	74.23
Off-Road & Recreational Vehicles	75	195	2.60	35.80	0.58	72.25
Vehicle Brands	48	103	2.15	40.64	0.33	71.47
Custom & Performance Vehicles	48	105	2.19	43.09	0.32	70.92
Vehicle Shopping	49	123	2.51	31.55	0.47	68.97
Hybrid & Alternative Vehicles	23	37	1.61	54.44	0.10	76.54
Vehicle Licensing & Registration	77	210	2.73	37.16	1.03	68.75
Auto Insurance	15	23	1.53	47.35	0.07	67.07
Auto Parts	85	211	2.48	40.91	0.54	73.17
Car Stereo	56	127	2.27	40.55	0.45	76.65
Motorcycles	71	168	2.37	40.71	0.47	67.68
Trucks & SUVs	107	307	2.87	39.01	1.11	69.05

Health	58	132	2.28	44.50	0.45	68.54
Nursing	79	207	2.62	39.18	1.05	68.09
Assisted Living & Long Term Care	84	231	2.75	37.91	1.12	70.87
Aging & Geriatrics	42	88	2.10	44.64	0.38	70.41
Medical Literature & Resources	59	132	2.24	44.13	0.40	65.86
Medical Facilities & Services	84	216	2.57	41.29	1.00	65.80
Physical Therapy	75	191	2.55	40.43	0.57	64.55
Doctors' Offices	77	206	2.68	36.15	1.06	66.06
Hospitals & Treatment Centers	73	217	2.97	41.17	0.59	68.36
Medical Procedures	71	167	2.35	46.05	0.57	70.22
Alternative & Natural Medicine	62	151	2.44	43.00	0.53	67.00
Health Education & Medical Training	52	147	2.83	41.89	0.50	61.86
Reproductive Health	36	64	1.78	52.46	0.22	75.60
Erectile Dysfunction	32	56	1.75	52.69	0.22	76.36
Infertility	51	98	1.92	53.55	0.39	75.95
STDs	41	86	2.10	48.15	0.31	72.90
OBGYN	54	109	2.02	49.83	0.36	72.49
Sexuality	24	39	1.63	56.75	0.12	82.21
Birth Control	31	51	1.65	52.92	0.14	71.98
Substance Abuse	40	80	2.00	48.08	0.37	72.63
Nutrition	28	54	1.93	45.12	0.21	67.81
Vitamins & Supplements	28	60	2.14	40.91	0.26	68.30
Special & Restricted Diets	22	38	1.73	50.00	0.13	71.35
Health Foundations & Medical Research	63	143	2.27	44.22	0.50	63.24
Occupational Health & Safety	60	135	2.25	44.90	0.43	68.73
Dental Care	94	248	2.64	40.94	1.05	69.07
Health Insurance	29	56	1.93	46.28	0.22	65.68
Mental Health	51	112	2.20	46.91	0.41	67.00
Anxiety & Stress	26	42	1.62	55.69	0.11	67.08
Learning & Developmental Disabilities	75	180	2.40	44.66	1.00	67.05
Depression	19	37	1.95	46.59	0.14	73.23
Pharmacy	32	62	1.94	46.08	0.23	69.69
Drugs & Medications	15	24	1.60	48.04	0.07	67.01
Health Conditions	48	95	1.98	50.28	0.34	70.54
Cancer	41	81	1.98	48.58	0.31	64.28
Infectious Diseases	14	22	1.57	50.89	0.06	74.38
Diabetes	34	60	1.76	52.59	0.24	71.37
Sleep Disorders	27	44	1.63	54.47	0.13	72.49
Pain Management	51	106	2.08	48.44	0.40	71.49
Injury	68	133	1.96	53.09	0.42	69.81
Respiratory Conditions	85	194	2.28	47.02	1.04	67.27
Obesity	55	116	2.11	49.21	1.01	76.46
Heart & Hypertension	45	92	2.04	47.43	0.41	64.96
GERD & Digestive Disorders	30	49	1.63	55.11	0.13	77.12
Allergies	49	101	2.06	49.72	0.43	72.47
Cold & Flu	16	23	1.44	63.47	0.04	33.81
AIDS & HIV	68	143	2.10	48.53	0.46	71.01
Skin Conditions	60	120	2.00	50.22	0.39	76.76
Vision Care	77	187	2.43	42.05	0.48	71.47
Medical Devices & Equipment	90	233	2.59	40.88	1.04	70.30

Beauty & Personal Care	56	132	2.36	40.27	0.45	67.95
Cosmetic Surgery	103	271	2.63	39.76	1.15	77.14
Hair Care & Products	76	190	2.50	38.42	0.51	64.34
Hair Loss	49	91	1.86	54.08	0.32	77.42
Spas & Beauty Services	77	207	2.69	36.23	1.00	77.42
Massage Therapy	66	174	2.64	37.91	0.53	67.64
Cosmetology & Beauty Professionals	76	235	3.09	28.55	1.08	70.73
Face & Body Care	46	103	2.24	42.60	0.38	66.57
Cosmetics	41	95	2.32	40.89	0.36	66.15
Hair Removal	72	160	2.22	40.01	0.54	75.24
Skin & Nail Care	40	86	2.15	43.43	0.33	67.36
Hygiene & Toiletries	52	122	2.35	45.27	0.46	56.14
Fragrances	31	64	2.06	42.69	0.27	64.03
Beauty Magazines	40	88	2.20	47.87	0.26	58.46
Body Art	71	175	2.46	35.74	0.43	75.87
Fitness	55	125	2.27	41.74	0.45	69.89
Yoga & Pilates	92	242	2.63	37.44	1.07	64.38
Bodybuilding	37	66	1.78	50.37	0.23	70.90
Weight Loss	14	21	1.50	50.37	0.04	70.74

Local	54	120	2.22	43.12	0.39	64.96
Traffic & Public Transit	35	72	2.06	39.94	0.27	59.81
Classifieds	26	58	2.23	40.08	0.30	61.51
Jobs	32	66	2.06	42.64	0.27	65.36
Event Listings	49	95	1.94	48.24	0.27	54.90
Weather	48	85	1.77	53.05	0.18	49.63
Regional Content	58	130	2.24	42.90	0.41	65.53
Africa	42	88	2.10	44.48	0.39	65.36
East Asia	50	101	2.02	48.55	0.29	56.80
Japan	88	198	2.25	47.11	0.44	51.55
China	30	53	1.77	50.74	0.16	63.72
Mexico & Central America	55	119	2.16	45.45	0.44	66.46
Mexico	63	136	2.16	46.23	0.44	65.39
Costa Rica	58	131	2.26	43.66	0.59	68.61
Central & South Asia	31	60	1.94	45.91	0.29	69.12
Pakistan	49	98	2.00	47.95	0.42	67.70
India	34	68	2.00	44.70	0.34	71.58
Iran	35	62	1.77	53.60	0.19	62.13
Middle East	34	67	1.97	46.45	0.26	65.53
Israel	44	89	2.02	47.36	0.32	62.53
Egypt	40	73	1.83	47.76	0.31	67.13
United Arab Emirates	30	54	1.80	50.03	0.21	65.12
Turkey	30	70	2.33	39.73	0.36	68.57
Southeast Asia	33	65	1.97	46.34	0.34	64.68
Vietnam	34	78	2.29	40.35	0.48	53.54
Thailand	50	101	2.02	48.00	0.42	70.06
Philippines	47	94	2.00	45.67	0.45	71.04
Indonesia	28	53	1.89	47.14	0.35	65.69
Malaysia	52	104	2.00	46.90	0.46	68.01
Singapore	31	59	1.90	50.47	0.19	62.10
Oceania	73	177	2.42	40.16	0.56	64.32
Pacific Islands	65	148	2.28	42.53	0.54	69.47
New Zealand	77	195	2.53	38.05	1.02	64.39
Australia	74	176	2.38	41.43	0.54	63.38
Caribbean	37	77	2.08	41.41	0.28	65.13
South America	52	107	2.06	45.25	0.42	68.62
Peru	55	112	2.04	47.30	0.45	73.99
Brazil	60	127	2.12	44.27	0.46	65.92
Argentina	68	151	2.22	43.15	0.54	69.56
US & Canada	56	126	2.25	41.58	0.42	66.55
Canada	74	179	2.42	40.43	0.51	64.47
USA	58	130	2.24	42.06	0.42	66.68
Western Europe	64	156	2.44	41.17	0.42	66.63
Spain	64	137	2.14	46.28	0.37	68.71
United Kingdom	64	157	2.45	40.57	0.46	69.66
Sweden	67	154	2.30	43.68	0.41	56.09
France	91	228	2.51	41.18	0.52	70.02
Germany	70	174	2.49	40.00	0.40	67.09
Italy	70	165	2.36	44.74	0.41	69.35
Ireland	69	163	2.36	42.21	0.49	64.94
Portugal	72	173	2.40	39.63	0.49	72.91
Netherlands	60	153	2.55	37.48	0.37	63.68
Central & Eastern Europe	68	157	2.31	45.09	0.40	65.57
Greece	77	167	2.17	46.76	0.39	66.38
Russia & Caucasus	37	66	1.78	53.40	0.21	64.66

	Visits	PageViews	Pages/visit	Bounce	Time onSite	New Visit %
Arts & Humanities	40	81	2.03	47.57	0.23	60.17
Theater & Performing Arts	59	133	2.25	43.65	0.38	65.81
Visual Arts	45	109	2.42	42.18	0.31	58.29
Books & Literature	34	57	1.68	54.31	0.13	58.61
E-Books	10	15	1.50	53.73	0.02	64.84
Fan Fiction	14	24	1.71	41.55	0.10	48.47
Book Retailers	29	56	1.93	46.60	0.19	66.44
Poetry	28	43	1.54	57.28	0.07	57.62
Humanities	34	61	1.79	52.05	0.17	65.17
Myth & Folklore	18	32	1.78	45.02	0.10	55.78
History	39	71	1.82	52.09	0.20	66.46

Telecommunications	25	44	1.76	48.74	0.15	65.48
Teleconferencing	49	91	1.86	55.90	0.32	63.41
Service Providers	21	37	1.76	46.47	0.11	57.61
Cable & Satellite Providers	19	31	1.63	51.38	0.07	50.47
Phone Service Providers	26	48	1.85	46.74	0.19	62.84
Calling Cards	28	51	1.82	45.61	0.27	61.58
ISPs	26	47	1.81	45.41	0.13	57.52
VOIP & Internet Telephony	38	71	1.87	52.42	0.26	69.03
Mobile & Wireless	20	33	1.65	48.68	0.10	67.84
Mobile Phones	16	25	1.56	49.85	0.60	70.22
Ringtones & Mobile Goodies	14	22	1.57	47.73	0.50	67.69
Mobile & Wireless Retailers	18	35	1.94	44.14	0.21	55.29
Location & Tracking (GIS-GPS)	27	50	1.85	49.86	0.18	70.98
Communications Equipment	70	152	2.17	47.83	0.45	67.88

Internet	2	2	1.00	100.00	0.00	28.58
Web Portals	1	2	2.00		0.00	25.73
File Sharing & Hosting	6	9	1.50	37.35	0.00	50.37
Web Design & Development	0	0	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Web Hosting & Domain Registration	1	1	1.00	0.00	0.00	17.07
Search Engine Optimization & Marketing	22	35	1.59	54.61	0.08	68.65
Online Goodies	13	23	1.77	44.73	0.06	55.67
Skins Themes & Screensavers	24	46	1.92	44.45	0.16	65.51
MySpace Codes & Graphics	6	8	1.33	42.30	0.00	55.41
Web Services	3	4	1.33	36.46	0.00	35.11
Search Engines	6	10	1.67	37.78	0.01	50.84
Affiliate Programs	5	7	1.40	53.36	0.00	61.86
Email & Messaging	3	3	1.00	31.44	0.00	25.17
Web Stats & Analytics	14	23	1.64	43.96	0.06	53.68

Why keywords are not the be-all and end-all of niche research

2010-07-15T15:12:00.002+01:00

Over the last week or so, as I've been working on refining the niche selcetionprocess for the next stage of my blogging business blueprint, I've been struch by the monotonous, often midless reliance on keyword research touted as a tool for finding a niche, and frankly I'm sick of it.

Keyword research is not a great way to find a niche. It's a great way to refine your niche concept and get ideas for content creation, but it shouldn't be the foundation for selecting the niche in the first place. For one thing, the vast majority of keyword data is just too unreliable. Try as it might it can't filter out all of the automated searches done by keyword ranking tools and software, or even manual searches done for keyword research purposes. The search engine has no way of knowing the intent of the search, it can only log and analyze numbers. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, it's just that those numbers are not the best for basing this particular decision on.

So I've taken a slightly different tack. Instead of looking at searches, I'm looking at where the search traffic ultimately ends up. To do that, I used the Google Analytics benchmarking function.

This tells me that in the time it's taken me to attract 95 visitors, the average website accross all industries of the same or similar size has received just 7. While my visitors have racked up 173 page views, the average site has displayed just 12 pages. while almost 65% of my visitors have viewed just a single page cvompared to the 35% average, those that remained to read more pages stayed on my site my site an average of 2.42 minutes, as opposed to an average of just 3 seconds across all sites, and a little over 42% of my visitors were on the site for first time, whereas across all sites that number was 56%.

So, all told, I seem to be doing quite well at attracting more visitors, getting them to stay longer, and coming back. SO far so good, but how does that help me in my search for a new niche?

Well, Google allows you to benchmark your site against sites in other industries, rather than across the board, to get a better idea of how you're doing against other sites covering the same or similar subject matter as you. I used this to compile a list of industry benchmarks as follows:

Food / Drink	70	158	2.26	42.65	0.41	66.70
Industries	69	173	2.51	40.83	0.51	69.65
Recreation	68	155	2.28	45.13	0.43	53.00
Travel	65	153	2.35	39.25	0.51	70.37
Animals	63	146	2.32	43.45	0.44	64.24
Home/Garden	60	149	2.48	40.35	0.46	70.72
Automotive	59	137	2.32	39.59	0.44	70.79
Health	58	132	2.28	44.50	0.45	68.54
Beauty /Personal Care	56	132	2.36	40.27	0.45	67.95
Local	54	120	2.22	43.12	0.39	64.96
Science	50	102	2.04	48.49	0.33	64.18
Sports	50	105	2.10	43.87	0.32	58.71
Lifestyles	48	103	2.15	44.36	0.35	59.21
Society	46	96	2.09	46.09	0.34	63.12
Photo/Video	45	110	2.44	34.01	32.00	59.25
Arts/ Humanities	40	81	2.03	47.57	0.23	60.17
Business	39	82	2.10	44.10	0.29	65.96
Shopping	39	86	2.21	43.60	0.28	54.49
Real Estate	36	82	2.28	38.71	0.39	63.81
Reference	32	59	1.84	49.27	17.00	59.60
Finance/ Insurance	30	58	1.93	45.35	0.22	63.95
Entertainment	28	50	1.79	46.61	0.13	59.97
Telecommunications	25	44	1.76	48.74	0.15	65.48
Computers / Electronics	23	41	1.78	45.51	0.13	58.63
News/ Current Events	20	33	1.65	49.78	0.08	62.24
Games	17	28	1.65	49.34	0.06	61.32
Social Networks/Online Communities	12	19	1.58	48.44	0.02	44.21
Internet	2	2	1.00	100.00	0.00	28.58

This shows us the average number of visitors a site of the same size in each industry can expect to receive over the same timeframe. OK it's not a perfect model, but it doesn level the playing field somewhat. So why is 'internet' at the bottom of the list? Is it because there's so much competition, because most of the searches in that category are automated, bot based ones that inflate search terms? Who knows? Frankly, it doesn't really matter. What matters is the majority of sites in these areas are receiving little or no traffic, and as such are not great places to start a new niche, as it's likely to be an uphill battle.

With that in mind, I'm ditching all but the top 10 performing categories, and I'm going to dig a little deeper into those. Tomorrow I'll post more indepth figures for them, and hopefully extract a little more information that will help me decide on my new niche subject.

The hostage negotiator guide to finding a niche?

2010-07-14T16:28:00.113+01:00

Today, I'm working through my list of skills, interests and experiences to create a list of potential niche ideas for websites I might want to work on. That's all they are at this stage; ideas that seem interesting. I'm not going to rule anything out at this point, as the weeding will come later. Some of the ideas might not have sufficient interest for me over the long term, or they might turn out to be completely unprofitable, but for now I'm just generating a list of ideas to work from.

Love & Relationships:

The hostage negotiator guides to love and relationships. These could cover

Hostage negotiator guide to dating
Hostage negotiator guide to relationships
Hostage negotiator guide to marriage
Hostage negotiator guide to sexuality
Hostage negotiator guide to conflict
Hostage negotiator guide to divorce
Hostage negotiator guide to body language
Hostage negotiator guide to step parenting
Hostage negotiator guide to being childless
Hostage negotiator guide to being a mature student

Health & Well being

Being an ex-vegetarian, real food issues & the problems with restrictive diets
Being happy with your body at any weight
What to do when the doctors don't know what's wrong with you
Beyond diet and exercise, living healthy without the guilt

Business & Money

How to be a freelance writer
How to design your own website
How to promote your website
How to run a business from home
How to set up your small business
How to manage your time as a small business owner
Being Self Employed
How to manage and motivate a small workforce
Getting over your fear of public speaking
Turning a hobby into a business

Passions & Obsessions

The Florists' guides to

Flower arranging
Gardening
Houseplants

Writing fiction
Getting started with arts and crafts:

knitting,
sewing,
cross stitch,
quilling
scrap booking
photography
painting
music
dance

Making money from each of the above

Obviously some of these I'm not qualified to talk about at this stage, such as making money from painting or photography, as I've never sold a painting (I was offered £50 for one once, but decided to keep it.) Also, I have no idea at this stage which, if any of these ideas represents a viable niche. I could, however, start with the things I have personally made money from and work out from there to creating guides by working with other people who have made the transition from hobbyist to professional in each area.

I like the sound of the hostage negotiator guides, but I haven't done that job for over a decade, so my skills there are somewhat out of date, and I'm not sure I wouldn't feel like a fraud. Maybe I could do that if the "hostage negotiator" was a semi fictionalized character, like the rich jerk, and the guides in each area were based on interviews with appropriate professionals it could work.

What strikes me at this point is that most of these ideas stem from my own no-nonsense life-on-my-terms attitude, which is probably why the hostage negotiator series is so appealing, as they are not so much about the job, but about refusing to let other people or situations hold your own life hostage.

Look at your list of skills, ideas and experiences and see if there are any combinations for a niche that strike you. Tomorrow we're going to start market research to narrow the ideas down to two or three options.

Using your skills, interests and experiences to find your niche

2010-07-13T20:40:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I compiled my skills, interests and experiences list as I began my hunt for the perfect niche that would encapsulate my "suitable and appropriate place or position" as an online business owner.

Today, I'm going to place each of those items from the list into a table. The headings represent the broad subject areas where profitable niches tend to be found over and over, those perennial areas of interest that people are prepared to spend money on: Love and relationships; health and well being; business and money; and passions or obsessions.

Love & Relationships	Health & Wellbeing	Business & Money	Passions & Obsessions
hostage negotiator trained	walking, swimming and cycling	Freelance online writer	I'm a qualified florist flower arranging
step parenting	living with a long term undiagnosed illness	Web design & Online Marketing	writing and researching fiction
approaching 40 with no children	being happy with your body at any weight	running a small businesses from home or premises	gardening
being a mature student	ex vegetarian	managing information	crafts,knitting, sewing,cross stich, quilling scrapbooking
		sales and recruiting experience in network marketing	photography and painting
		training and public speaker	singing and music
		haven't worked for anyone else for eleven years plus	learn belly dancing, salsa or other dance

My next job is to identify potential niche areas that, if not unique to me, are certainly unusual, but with the potential to form the basis of an online business. If you're working through this with me, transfer your list items into a grid like this one and start thinking about niches that you might be able to fill.

OK, so just what is a niche, and how do you chose one?

2010-07-12T19:08:00.000+01:00

I think the word niche is over used in online marketing advice. It's become such a buzz word that it's started to lose its meaning. People use the word niche when they really mean subject or topic or even when they are talking about the industry or market that a business is in.

One good dictionary definition from dictionary.com defines a niche as

a place or position suitable or appropriate for a person or thing: to find one's niche in the business world.

It's also described as "a distinct segment of a market," and "pertaining to or intended for a market niche; having specific appeal: niche advertising."

So a niche then is a suitable place or position in the market with specific appeal. Finding your niche is identifying that place in the market where your skills and interest are such that you can help solve the problems or meet the needs of an identifiable audience.

As one internet marketer pointed out, a niche is a gap in the market, where a demand exists but there is little supply. In order to be profitable, it helps if this niche is in an area where people are prepared to spend money. For me, it also needs to be legal and ethical too.

So, before I start the process of narrowing down my ideas to decide on the perfect niche, let's take a look at my skills, interests and experiences:

Skills:

I'm a freelance online writer, and make a modest income from it
I have over a decade's experience in web design and online marketing
I have experience of running my own businesses both from home and from premises
I'm a qualified florist
I have research skills
I worked as a librarian for five years
I'm hostage negotiator trained (lapsed a long time ago)
I have sales experience and recruiting experience from my time in network marketing
I'm also a competent trainer and public speaker, from running floristry workshops in my own shop and from running and hosting training and recruitment events in network marketing.

Interests:

I still love flower arranging, even though I no longer work professionally as a florist
Obviously I love writing and researching, and have a couple of novels on the go
I like gardening, though I don't currently have my own garden
I love walking, like swimming and can tolerate cycling although my fitness levels are not what they used to be
I enjoy having a go at most crafts and used to be a busy knitter, seamstress and enjoyed cross stich. I even took up quilling and scrapbooking for a while
I enjoy photography, but wouldn't even class myself as an enthusiastic amateur
I love painting, even though I'm not very good at it
I used to sing in the school choir and love music and dance, but not any kind of organized dance, just your casual bopping down the local on a weekend, although I would really love to learn belly dancing, salsa or something a little more impressive (not pole dancing though, I don't think my wobbly bits could take the strain.)

Experiences:

I'm a step parent
I'm approaching 40 with no children of my own
I have had a long term undiagnosed illness
I struggled with my weight for years but am now happy with my body (still no stick insect but a healthy weight for me)
I haven't worked for anyone else for eleven years plus
I've been a mature student
I'm an ex vegetarian. (I was vegetarian for twenty years an now I'm not)

There are things I've left off this list because they are too personal, and I've probably forgotten as many items as I've listed, as this is just off the top of my head. But I tend to think if an interest or skill isn't one of the first things you think about when you write your list, it's probably not one of the things that defines you and shouldn't be the focus of your business building efforts. Similarly, if something feels too personal or painful, you're not going to be comfortable and happy making it the focus of your attention. It may be something you chose to work on later, but not for now.

So that's my list, from which I'll be attempting to refine my "suitable and appropriate place or position." If you've been working through these exercises with me, now is the time to create your skills, interests and experiences lists. It doesn't have to be the kind of stuff you would put on a CV, and you don't have to post your lists for the world to see. You're basically just putting together a list of things you're good at, things that interest you, and things you have experienced that might mean you can help others.

My provisional business plan

2010-07-11T15:53:00.066+01:00

Well, starting with the income producing methods I was talking about yesterday, last night I used OneNote for the first time to create a rather clumsy flow chart for my provisional business model. (I don't have a scanner at the moment otherwise it would have been a hand drawn effort, and I'm not sure that wouyld have been any better)
Yes, at this point it looks like a mess of boxes and arrows, but I can follow it, so that's what matters. Anyhow, here's my thinking:

I din't have the time, room or energy to be precise about theweb traffic generation strategies at this point, so I just put a box in for each of the main ones and pointed it to the main site, microniches sites and the profile site. Not all web strategies will point to all of the sites, but for now, indicating that the general purpose of being active on the web is to get traffic to any one of my sites is enough.

The purpose of the microniche sites and the main site is to guide people to the main offer, which will probably be a free valuable download, whether that's software or a workbook or free report. The purpose of that is to get people to subscribe to the system one way or another by offering them(eventually) a choice of content delivery styles that helps them, whether they want ebooks, audio/video etc.

The list of products at the bottom is a horizontal representation of the product funnel or ladder that I've seen various other online marketers refer to. I can see myself at this point creating ebooks, audio/video, even courseware and a membership site. The offline workshops and consulting stuff, I don't know, maybe some way down the line. The reason I've stopped the autoresponders at the online e-course box is because I don't want to be selling high ticket stuff like the workshops and consultation would be from the same site that's offering free reports and low resistance products like an ebook library.

That's why I introduced a profile site to the model, so that later on, when the early parts of the business are established, I can create a personal site to deal with those exclusively.

The other things the model shows are that some offsite sales avenues, such as clickbank affilate sales and aution sales, might bypass my main sites and take users directly to a thankyou page, using sales pages created specifically for them. As the main thrust of the model is to move people down the layers of contact and from left to right across the page to more valuable material, these boxes really should have been on the left of the diagram not on the right, but I just couldn't pick all the boxes and rrows up and move them around, so I left them where they are for now.

The joint ventures box, as you might notice, isn't connected to the lower end of the sales process or the autoresponder emails, and I've done that deliberately. I intend to promote JVs only through the membership site and the profile site, and that's for two reasons:
1) I want people joining my list to know what's coming and what they can expect from me right from the beginning, and I want to helpl them through the process of working their way through the primer information, to the general, to the more specific, and provide them with the tools they need as they go along. I don't want to be constantly distracting them from that process with offers for products from other people. They'll be able to take advantage of those later in the process when they've reached that stage of the chain.
2) As you may have gathered from yesterday's little rant, I don't take kindly to marketers who bombard me with endorsements for the next latest greatest wonder gadget of the nano moment because they want to earn a commission off me, and I'm not going to do that to anyone else.

I've also used the joint venture offer as a kind of backwards release valve, though, for anyone who visits the profile site but isn't ready for it. through the joint ventures, I intend to offer a way back down the snake so to speak, to get onto the autoresponders, and onto the first rung of the product ladder.

Now, I'm not saying at this stage this model is going to work, or that it won't be revised as I go along, but this is where I'm at. Feel free to take what you can from this and adapt it to meet your needs. After all, I've cobbled this together from reading various other people's stuff (and thanks to Steve Scott of www.stevescottsite.com for providing the bare bones of this in his six figure affiliate blueprint.)

Now I'm off to start the process of defining my niche. For those of you who wonder why I've done it this way round rather than decide on a niche and then design a business model for it, it's because I knew before I started I wanted to create an internet based business, and don't want to go picking a niche that won't work online, or trying to shoehorn ways of making a living out of it in later. I've done that before, and with little success.

27 plus 1 brainstorming money making ideas

2010-07-10T19:42:00.001+01:00

I've written a helium article A look at online business models and linked this post to it because otherwise this would be a horrendously long post.

basically, the way I see it, online business models fall into one of three categories: selling your own product or service, making a commission from referrals to someone else's product or service, or advertising. Here's my brainstorming session for money making ideas, and my thoughts on their usefulness for me. Just because I won't be using some of them, though, doesn't mean they might not be ideal for you:

Ask for donations
I'm not a charity, not working in open source and don't want to come across as an amateur asking for a hand out, so this one's not for me, but hey, it works for some.
Sell ebooks
Once I've got my main site set up, this is one of the strategies I intend to implement. I intend to create a library of high value content ebooks. At the moment I'm thinking about products in terms of helping hobby enthusiasts turn their hobby into a career, but who know, the plan could still change at this point.
Sell audio/video downloads
Also one on my list. I plan to take the ebook content and record it, and also record "over the shoulder" videos of how to do each action point in the plan, to make it easier for new business owners to tackle the technical stuff without panicking.
Sell memberships
To make it easier and cheaper for readers to move through the ebook/video series, I plan to offer a membership site with either a one off or monthly fee to access all of the content on offer. I may even offer both options, who knows.
Sell online courses
I could take the content, expand on it and turn it into courseware, so that users can not only follow along, but record their progress, making it easier to keep track of where they are, and get help if things are going so well.
Sell software
Now, I might create downloadable versions of the courseware and offer them as software, or include utilities that users might need to make working through the system easiser.
Sell music
Probably not for me. I've dabbled with subliminal audio recordings in the past but so far had no discernible results with them, so will probably give this one a miss.
Sell offline workshops
Maybe in the future. One thing I've noticed is most of the offline workshops available are in the US amking them exxhorbitantly expensive for those of us on the UK side of the pond, so there's probably a market. I've taught floristry workshops and self development workshops for network marketers, so I'm not ruling it out, but it's definately on the long term list at this point rather than the near horizon.
Sell consulting
Again, a long term maybe.
Sell one to one troubleshooting
Ditto.
Sell through auction sites
Not a part of my strategy, but I may experiment with it as a way to promote. Not holding my breath though.
Sell through drop shippers
tried this in the past with no success, and frankly don't want the headache.
Sell through amazon store
I have one on this site, but whether it makes the transition to the new site or not is dubious, though I will always use amazon affiliate links to books I recommend.
Sell through clickbank marketplace
I'll probably try this at least initially. The only thing I don't like about this is that the need to offer 50-75% commissions to attract promoting affiliates will effectively increase the price of the product by 100-150%.
Promote clickbank products
I do occassionally, though not fanatically, and not anything I don't think is worth it.
Promote through commission junction, tradedoubler or other affiliate programs
I've worked with CJ and TDin the past with some success, but not for some years now. I'll probably give them a go again at some point if I find valuable products worth promoting on there, but I'm not going to make this the main thrust of my business.
Promote private affiliate programs
For me, only if they pay by direct bank deposit, or through PayPal. I just don't want too may things to keep track of, and since most of the programs I work with pay in US dollars and I'm in the UK, cheques are out. I don't want bank charges eating into my profits, thanks.
Joint venture with other marketers
Probably, at some point down the line. But only with my heroes and only two or three a year.

And I'm not about to join the ranks of 'super affiliates' sending out new product launch emails every day for a different product every month. I unsubscribe from anyone who does that, it bugs the hell out of me. Yes, I know once I've bought something from you I'm in your funnel and you see me as an easy target to tap for more money whenever you want, but don't abuse that position, or you'll lose it. Besides, I just don't have the kind of money you seem to think I do, and it winds me up when you tell me all about the six or seven figure income you're making then try to tap me for hundreds (sometimes even thousands) of dollars for another 'me too' product. get real, or get out of my inbox.
yes, I know this will be up here to hold me accountable. I want you to. If you ever think I'm turning into one of those, please send me a stiffly worded email.
Sell articles
That's what I'm doing now. Yes, I enjoy writing them. yes, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when I sell them. No, it's not what I want to be doing long term.
Run of site advertising banners etc
Probably not.
In context advertising (adsense, kontera etc)
Again, something I'm doing now. My current CPM is in the region of anything between £5.00and £7.50. To put that into perspective, to make £1000, I'd need between and 133K and 200K visitors a month, though this can probably be improved with better keyword optimization and closer content control. I probably won't sitch this altogether (at least not yet) but I won't be relying on it either.
Off site direct linking to affiliate products
I can't see me doing this, but some do.
Join a network marketing program
Again, been there, done that, variable results. There's only one network marketing business I would recommend to anyone, and I'm not in it anymore.
Domain parking with advertising
Maybe I would use this if I batch bought domain names to use as niche feeder sites to avoid them being bought from under me while I prepared the content, but it's not a strategy I want to rely on long term.
Domain flipping
The only time I would want to sell a domain is if it wasn't working out or someone made me a serious offer I couldn't refuse, so not a part of my plan. But for those who like ssetting up the sites but not maintaining them, vould be a worthwhile venture.
auto blogging
While I do intend to automate some of the keyword research and scheduling of the posts, I'm not about to get into pulling RSS feeds or scraping content from other sites to create a pseudo blog. I'm also not a big fan of article spinning. Call me old fashioned, I like unique content written by a human. Yes, it can be SEO optimized, yes it can have had the writing process streamlined with a few useful hacks and utilities, but yes, I can tell the difference. (I've never yet had that sinking "this is an auto blog" feeling and copies and pasted a sentence into google and not found dozens of results with the exact same sentence in bold. Wierd, huh? No, human.)
micro blogging
I may create multiple micro blogs with the content rewritten to be targetted at specific hobby. After all, if I've gone to the trouble of creating stuff to help people turn their hobby into a career, it oonly makes sense to then try to reach as many amateur hobbyists as possible, and while knitting may be a hobby that can make money (just ask my mum how she put food on the table as a single mum in the seventies) most knitters aren't going to be searching for ways to make money from a hobby. They might be looking for ways to make money from knitting though.
Sell email opt in list
No. No. A thousand times no and never.

So now I'm going to take my responses to this brainstorming session and attempt to draw out my business model. I don't currently have a scanner, so I'll have to try and get it into a single screen on my diminutive netbook and take a screenshot to share with you tomorrow.

Squaring up to brainstorming and research

2010-07-09T10:52:00.001+01:00

Well, I've reached the second stage of my blog business plan blueprint, and am about to embark on the brainstorming and research part of the plan. Much like the Planning and Preparation part of the blueprint was broken down into goal setting, time planning and journaling sections, the brainstorming and research is broken down into researching business models, niches, keywords and creating systems to automate or outsource repetitive tasks.

I'd be lying if I didn't say this part of the plan is making me nervous. I already have a pretty clear idea of the business model I hope to implement, but what if my research suggests it's a flawed plan? What if my niche or keyword research indicate it's just not profitable? Even worse, what if the plan is flawed and the niche not profitable, but I go about my research in such a biased way that I don't see that and go ahead with it anyway?

Other things concerning me are how long do I spend on this? Is it better to just keep the momentum going and skim over some things, or should I be going into great depth on each one? My gut instinct is to try and keep a healthy balance between thorough research and information paralysis, and to just move on from each step when I feel I've gotten enough from it to prepare me for the next. It's all a bit "how long is a piece of string?"

In some ways this should be easy. After all, I've owned my own business before. I've drawn up business plans for myself and even helped other people create theirs. Yet somehow, this feels like unchartered territory. I've designed dozens of websites from the ground up, creating navigation plans, content funnels and email autoresponders. I've implemented shopping carts and catalogues, testing and monitoring software, and I've literally written the content for over 50 thousand web pages in the last twelve years.

Perhaps one of the reasons this all feels so scary is there is no client to get paramaters and feedback from, no-one to bounce ideas off and to keep my feet on the ground, and for the first time, I'm doing all this in my own name, and blogging about it so the whole world can see how it's going at the same time.

If I fail, it won't be in the privacy of my own home, it's out there, digitally broadcast for anyone who wants to read it. Plus, I have very little in the form of a safety net. I'm currently making around £400 a month from freelance writing online. So everything I want to spend on the blogging business, I have to earn first, and that's a scary prospect.

Still, nothing ventured, right? So it's on to the research, with a deep breath and crossed fingers. I have to say, just writing this post and voicing my fears has helped calm me somewhat.

Tomorrow, I'll be looking at the various types of online business models and brainstorming possible ways to make money. Be sure to check back, because I already know I won't be using all of the ones I can think of, and you never know, some of them might be ideal for you.

The final piece in my preparation jigsaw: the Tool Box

2010-07-08T18:48:00.041+01:00

As I've been finalising preparations to get into the real work of building my online business (and I have a confession to make here. It hasn't really taken me that long. I've been working at this for four days so far, even though the blog posts about it have taken up more than two weeks. That's because as I've looked at each area logically, and blogged about it, I've scheduled the blog posts to go out one a day, so right now as I'm writing this, it's actually late on 18th June, but I'm scheduling this post for 8th July) one of the last things I've done to prepare is to organize my tool box on my computer.

That's been a two part process. First, I've sorted all the programmes into folders that make sense to me in the 'start' menu. I only work on a laptop (netbook actually) with a small screen, and can't stand menus that go to two colums as I find that takes me too long to find what I'm looking for. So my start menu options are curentlt; Games, Graphics, Multimedia, Office, Promotions, Social networks, Startup, Time Management, Utilities (Remaned Accessories) Web Design and Writing. Every program is organized under one of those folders, some with multiple levels. I find I can work quicker that way, even if it occassionally means moving a stubborn folder that moves itself when a program updates.

The second part of the process was creating a third folder called '3-toolbox' at the top of my work folder and moving all the downloaded zip files for useful tools. This is where I'll be keeping files of any software utilities, resources and ebooks with rights to pass on.

Of course, you don't have to rearrange the programs on your start menu just to follow along with these exercises with me, but it would be a good idea to start a tool box, even if you don't plan to start giving them away as part of your online business. If nothing else, it makes them so much easier to find.

And that's the end of my preparation. Tomorrow I move on to the brainstorming and research section of my blog business blueprint. Well, actually on Monday, as I'm having the weekend off to spend time with my partner and the kids, but as I'll be scheduling the firstpost of that section for the day after the last post of this section, you shouldn't notice the gap.

The ideas file, the electronic equivalent of a jotter

2010-07-07T18:24:00.002+01:00

Sometimes, when I'm scribbling things in my jotter, or even instead of scribbling in the jotter, I open a .txt file and make notes. I'm pretty good at organizing my files, but for some reason these have been accumulating in the top folder of my work file on the laptop.

So now, alongside my swipe file (which I named '1-swipe file' to make sure it stays at the top of the list) I have a folder '2-ideas file' with all those .txt files, and a few excel spreadsheets and word documents. This is where I'm storing the files for any ideas that don't fit in a current project. At the moment, I've just dumped all the existing files in there. I've already got a major goal to work towards and don't want to get distracted by reading through them all. But as I add new ideas, I'm also making an entry in the simplology system to tie in with it, and when I go through the folder looking for product ideas for the first time, I'll be rationalising that.

I also have a series of sub folders within the ideas file for product ideas, website or blog ideas, and email autoresponder ideas, amongst others, that corresponds quite closely to the sub folder under my swipe file. Ther'ye both quite empty at the moment as I'm starting again from scratch, but I used to keep my thoughts organized this way years ago when I was ghostwriting and copywriting for web design clients, so I know it's a system I can work with.

If you're working through these exercises with me, I suggest you set up swipe files and ideas files with a closely raleted structure that makes sense to you. After all, you're the one who has to work with it. Then, just get into the habit of dropping a .txt file into the ideas folder whenever something strikes you that needs more than a one line journal entry, but you don't have time to fully flesh out or work on right now.

The Swipe File

2010-07-06T17:45:00.003+01:00

I used to have a pretty impressive swipe file, but for reasons I won't go into here, I no longer have it. I haven't been copywriting for some time, and when I left my swipe file behind, I didn't start a new one. I've gotten out of the habit of studying other people's sales letters the way I used to.

I haven't read anything to do with hypnotic marketing in a long time. The headline generator software, the doozy of a gadget that used to 'score' my copy for profitability is long gone, and I can't remember the last time I even tried to write anything that "literally forced readers to whip out their credit cards," or had them chomping at the bit, salivating at the mouth or beating down my door.

I can't honestly say I miss it. I'm hoping not to have to go back there. But if I'm going to be creating products and writing sales letters, I know one thing for sure: it's time to start a new swipe file. So my next task is to go through my downloads folder and move anything useful into my newly created swipe file folder and the sub folders under it. Then I'll be copying and pasting any interesting pages I come across into it.

The way I keep my swipe file is simple. When I find a sales page or anything else online that gets me to 'buy in' and take action, I copy the sales page and paste it into word, then highlight the bit that triggered my response and make a note in Word why it worked. I also make a note of any parts of the page that produced a negative reaction and why, and which bits I scrolled right past. That way, when I come back to look for something to use, I know why I swiped the file, which bits to emulate and which to ignore.

If you don't already have a swipe file, I recommend keeping one if you ever plan to make sales online. It's not just sales pages that are worth swiping, either. Emails, newsletters, blog posts and basic ads that work are all worth tracking. Just remember to swipe the actual content rather than just keeping a record of the URL, as by the time you go back to it it could have changed. Also, remember, when you come to use the swipe file, it's there to give you inspiration and get you started, not to plagiarize.

Just because I'm writing a blog, doesn't mean I don't need a journal

2010-07-05T16:26:00.057+01:00

Before I move on to the Brainstorming and Research section of my business plan blueprint, there are a few final preparation issues I want to take care of and discuss to do with records and filekeeping. I already keep a journal, but before I move on I need to get my swipe file, ideas file and tool box organized, and sort out an oline backup system, just incase my laptop dies.

Journaling

I have two spiral bound notebooks at the side of my laptop: one is my journal, where I begin and end the day with my thoughts and plans, the other is a jotter where I work out ideas as they come to me. I also have the Smart Diary software I'm evaluating which has a diary function. Although I haven't really been using that yet, as I build my business systems, I intend to keep track of what I put in place when in it. On top of that I'm using the Simpleology system to track my goals and progress towards them.

Now, I'm not suggesting you have to have this many ways to keep track of your actions. If a single notebook works for you, that's fine. If you prefer to use the journal functions of MS Office or another software system, go for it.

Personally, I don't trust electronic systems not to crash and trash all my data enough not to have some kind of paper back-up. I also find the thought process that goes with typing different from the one that accompanies physically writing things down. Where my journal is the place I record my thoughts, plans and actual results, the scribble book is just that, filled with mind maps, flow charts and lists of sites and resources. The journal is organized chronologically, obviously, the jotter has sections where notes are grouped into categories, and a section that's just completely unorganized (but I still manage to find things in it surprisingly easiliy when I'm looking for them, sometimes by remembering which doodle it was near when I wrote it.)

I'd encourage anyone thinking about starting an online business or freelance writing career to start keeping a journal. Even if you find you're only making occassional notes to begin with, or recording the sites you've visited that you found useful, just the act of writing something down can help clarify what you are doing.

Now I've dealt with the Digital Dragon, all I need is a little discipline...

2010-07-04T15:55:00.021+01:00

I've come to the end of the time management section of my business blueprint, and I finally feel like I've got control over my time. In order to do that, I've cut a lot of disctraction out, and put barriers between them and me in order to let me stay in contact and still be in control of when and how that happens.

My emails are now there waiting for me when I'm ready to deal with them without interrupting my workflow. The same for text messages, social network interactions, and even phone calls. Up to this point a lot of what I've been doing has been cutting things back and limiting my time spent on unproductive activity.

My one concern is that as I move forward and start to build the system, I'm going to be adding more and more new tasks that will require my time instead. So my biggest comitment is to avoid putting anything in place that will send me real time alerts or updates without incorporating that into the system I've set up that shields me from them.

I'm going to build a three times a day check-in habit into my working routine. Before I start work in the morning, I'll scan email, RSS and SM feeds for anything that needs to be actioned that day, and deal with them. I'll check in once more at lunch time, again for a quick scan. Then, at the end of the day, when everything else is done, I'll have a propper read through as part of my wind down process and deal with everything that's non urgent. I've got all the system tray ocons set to 'always hide' so they're not constantly distracting me with the icon telling me there are new items to read, and all the notifcations and sounds switched off.

All I need now is the discipline to stick with this and not go looking for things between my three scheduled times. Wish me luck.

Grappling with the Distraction of the Digital Dragon 5: Social Networking

2010-07-03T15:23:00.002+01:00

I have the facebook app on my phone, Nimuzz conecting me to the IM Chat facilities of facebook, Windows live messenger and Yahoo, and a few other apps for tracking Twitter et al. I have a socialoomph account for scheduling updates, a hootsuite account, a ping account, tweet deck on my laptop. Today, I have switched off all automation except two RSS feeds. One to post new helium articles to my @gailseymour twitter account and one to post new posts on this blog to @payinghobby.

Everything else is on hold.

Why?

Because lately I've been feeling it's all getting a bit too impersonal for my liking, and a bit out of control. So until I get to that stage in my business blueprint and decide exactly how I want to implement it all to keep it real, I'm opting out to some extent. I'll still be using twitter and facebook to keep in touch with people, but outside my working hours, and without scheduling.

I'm also pulling back on my activity in forums. There are a few blogs, like the SteveScottSite and the helium Community where I'll be checking in once or twice a week, but for now, for me, the emphasis is sqaurely on doing the work I need to do to meet my income targets, and working through my business blueprint. Everything else is just a distraction.

I know simply pulling the plug and stepping away from all the SM hoopla isn't a long term solution, but I feel it's the right move for me at this point in time. Already I'm able to think more clearly and have direct real time conversations instead of wading through lots of junk. I do intend to restart more organized SM communication and integration at a later date, but with a focused effort and a clear idea of what I'm doing with it.

Until then, if you want to communicate with me on twitter, send me an @mention to either @gailseymour or @payinghobby, or send me a friend request on facebook. If you want to email me, send a message to gailseymour[at]live[dot]co[dot]uk. I'm intentionally shielding myself from everything else for a week or two. Or of course, you can post a reply on any post on this blog, and I'll respond to you that way, too.

Grapling with the distractions of the digital dragon 4: RSS Feed Reader

2010-07-02T18:08:00.014+01:00

RSS feeds are great because they make it easy to stay up to date with changes at sites I want to follow, like SteveScottSite.com. I use feedreader for mine, and have it set to use the intelligent update feature, so it checks more frequently updated feeds more often. Left to its own devices, though, this tool can become another siren, calling me away from what I'm supposed to be doing with update notifications and a color changing icon in the system tray.

Let's just say I have a lot of feeds, including some search feeds that monitor Google, Twitter, Digg and various other sites for keyword mentions, and that means a lot of update notifications. I disabled the notification windows some time ago and have the default set to disallow them, but that little orange icon kept distracting me, so it's gone the way of the mail notification icon, set to 'always hide' in the taskbar, properties, customize window.

I've also spent a bit of time creating folders and placing the RSS feeds in them so I can concentrate ont he updates I really want to see rather than having to wade through all of them when I open the feed reader. And I have it set to default to hide read items. If I need to find an older item, I can quickly turn it back on and off again when I'm done.

So that's another annoying distraction tamed and brought under control. Tomorrow, I'm going to concentrate on how I manage my social network interactions, which could end up being a big subject, but I'm just not prepared to move forward witht the business blueprint until I've got these basic time sucking disctractions under control and found a way to harness the digital dragon to my benefit.

Grapling with the distractions of the digital dragon 3: The Browser

2010-07-01T18:08:00.070+01:00

As I mentioned lst week in my post about Combating Stupid Genius Syndrome, what I could probably do with is some kind of tool that actively discourages me from following links. Kind of the reverse of the annoying pop up that says 'do you really want to leave this page?' when you try to close a sales page.

Alas, no such wonder widget appears to exist as yet, so instead I've taken a two pronged approach to taming the browser. I've installed two browser addons for firefox that are helping me curb my web based wanderlust.

Rescue Time

Rescue Time logs my Internet activity and gives each site a productivity score from +2 for highly productive to -2 for highly unproductive. It keeps track of how long I've been browsing, and how long I've spent on each site, then calculates my own productivity score and tells me how I compare to other users.

Right now it's telling me I have accumulated 6:17 hours of browsing today, with 25% of that being distracting browsing, and that makes me more productive than 96% of people.
It has a huge database of pre-categorized sites with productivity score assigned, but you can edit them. For example, I'v ehad to tell it when I'm on blogger that's actually productive time rather than unproductive, because I'm working on my blog rather than surfing aimlessly. For the most part, though, it's pretty good at spotting when you're doing something useful and when you're just goofing off.

Cool Previews

Cool Previews lets me look at pages before deciding whether to visit them by opening them in a preview window. It's not perfect, as it doesn't seem to work on all links, and is quite slow, but it's acting as a good deterent. Instead of clicking on a link, I click on the preview icon, and carry on reading the page I'm on. If the preview comes up as a trashy sales page or one of those really annoying sites filled with nothing but adsense links, I can just shut the preview and move on without getting dragged over there and through to another site.

Now I don't imagine for a minute this is going to stop me going on impulse power or taking a tangent trip and spending three hours researching something I never knew I wanted to know about. What it does though, is put a mental break in the browsing sequence that should help me stay a little more focused on the task in hand.

That, combined with the ability to review my browsing habits, and assign productivity scores to the sites I've visited helps me evaluate the way I'm uing my time, and that's going to be important in the coming weeks.

If you're working through this with me, take a bit of time out to review your browsing habits and research tools that might help you stay more productive. If you find any great ones you want to share, leave a comment and I'll take a look at them.

Grapling with the distractions of the digital dragon 2: Blackberry

2010-06-30T17:47:00.025+01:00

Don't get me wrong, I love my bb, and wouldn't be without it. It keeps me connected to twitter, facebook, my email and even has IM chat enabled. I just don't want to bbe interrupted by it. I want it to be there patiently waiting for me when I need to relax and play pixelated, and to make it easy to keep in touch in my frequent mini breaks (I need these as I really can't focus on anything for more than half an hour) and to keep quiet the rest of the time.

So today I've spent a little time working through the settings, turning off all the distracting flashing lights and muting all sorts of notifications. Instead of having it ring for every call, I've got it set to vibrate for all calls except from those on my exceptions list. I've turned off every other noisy notification and flashing led light except for the bb messenger, and the only people in there are my nearest and dearest. So now unless the call or message is from someone on my VIP list, it won't be interrupting me while I work, but will still be three with a visual flag when I'm ready to plug back in.

This might all seem a little ruthless, and in time I might be able to lift some of the restrictions, but for now I'm putting all the blocks I can between me and the distractions that derail my day. My butterfly brain needs all the help it can get to stay on track. Needless to say I won't be getting a landline any time soon.

Grapling with the distractions of the digital dragon 1: Email

2010-06-29T16:37:00.053+01:00

I had two major issues with email.

First, it was getting too much like the phone, acting like an instruction to stop whatever you're doing and look at this now. I have my email pushed to my blackberry so I can keep up to date when I'm out, but I don't need the joint sirens from the computer and phone every time an email arrives. I didn't want to slow down the access to email, I just didn't want it to be controlling me. So I've left the blackberry collecting email, but switched off the noise and disable the flashing LED light that tells me email has arrived. So now the only notification there is on the icon on the home screen, which I can check on my schedule.

I have my computer set to check for email every tem minutes, which is about as long as I want to wait if I'm expecting a confirmation email or a purchase reciept. At the same time, though, I don't want to be interrupted every 10 minutes because a newsletter has arrived.
It's all well and good saying 'check your email once or twice a day and no more,' but if the thing's constantly beeping at you, or flashing up 'you have email from boggety blog' every few minutes, it's still distracting. So first, I disabled the popup announcements. Then I disabled the 'play sound,' and finally I right clicked on the taskbar and in the properties >> customize option, I found the email icon and put it on always hide. So now I'm in control of when I check my email, first issue resolved.

The second issue of course is wading through the junk and sales pitches from newlsetter list owners to find the email I actually want or need to read. I like to keep my inbox empty and store anything I want to keep in folders. This means I only have one place to look for new emails, so I don't really want to start using rules to filter emails into them the folders. I'm quite good at marking senders as junk, unsubscribing from newsletter ownsers who send more sales pitches than newsletters and stuff like that, what I need to get better at is just not reading every email from beginning to end.

I get the feeling this is an issue that will have to be revisited at some point in the next couple of months, but for now just shutting the incessant notifications off and being able to check my mailbox when I'm good and ready should help. Butterfly brain 1, digital dragon, 0.

If you're working throughthis exercise with me, take some time to tweak the settings on your mail system to put yourself in control, and if you have any useful hints or tips for other users who might be struggling with the same issues, leave them in the comments here.

Sometimes I have the attention span of a gnat. Other times, I'm not that focused...

2010-06-28T15:34:00.001+01:00

You might be one of those people with brains of steel that can focus on one thing for long periods of time and just get things done with no effort. I'm not. As I've previously said, I have a butterfly brain, and a near compulsive tendency to read almost every written word that comes before my eyes. Since I work as an online freelance writer and spend a lot of time researching on the Internet, as you can imagine that's a bit of a problem in itself.

There are also more specific distractions that eat into my productive day, though, and they're things I know I'm not alone in needing to deal with. Email and the telephone, for example. RSS feed readers and other productivity tools designed to help me keep up to date in fact end up distracting me from the task in hand, and wasting valuable work time. Plus, of course, there's the hours lost in browsing on autopilot.

So I'm going to be spending the next few days focusing on how I can manage those distractions in a way that puts me in control, without putting me at a disadvantage.

Just out of curiosity, what are the biggest distractions that derail you from your work? and how do you handle them?