Today I want to cover an important component to expediting the growth of your online business,  Reinvestment.

When you start from scratch and build a property or offer that starts making money it is very tempting to take the proceeds and buy something for yourself.  I can’t say I would blame anyone for doing that.  There are few things more satisfying that earning a dollar from nothing and it feels good to reap the benefits. 

With that said, I would encourage all the grinders out there to limit personal spending to a minimum and reinvest as much of your profits as possible.  Assuming you are making wise decisions reinvestment can help you grow your business and profits exponentially.

Why Reinvest?

A common response I often hear to reinvestment advice is, “WHY?”.  It is a valid question.  Profits are typically earned through hard work and will likely grow with the same hard work.  I don’t dispute this at all. 

The reason you should reinvest is to grow faster and profit more.

The pace of Internet marketing and technology trends grows faster than anything we have really seen historically.  What is hot today is gone tomorrow.  Competition is rabid and it is important to grow and stay ahead of the game as much as possible.

Reinvestment allows a one man operation to open up the time bottleneck and scale.

What To Reinvest In?

Spending money alone isn’t going to make the strides.  It is about reinvesting wisely and evaluating what gets the most return for the investment.  Some good areas to reinvest are:

• Outsourcing / Services – Alleviate some of your time by outsourcing some of your less competent skills.  Make sure you do your due diligence to find the right talent for a value price.

• Advertising – It’s all about the finding more of the target audience.  Use your profits to test various advertising outlets.  Don’t be afraid to try anything and everything that seems reasonable (including offline options such as direct mail, classified ads, billboards, radio and TV if relevant).

• Tools – I’ve found tools to be a critical component of my success.  Anything that can help you get the job done quicker or better is worth consideration.  Study up before buying.  There is a lot of crap on the market.

• Education – Yeah, it’s true.  Some of the books and info products out there are actually good.  I’ve spent a lot of money on junk but the good stuff is worth it’s weight in gold. 

• Hosting – Hosting was a lesson learned for me in the early days.  I built a high traffic site but didn’t want to burn my profits up on a dedicated sever.  This meant my site was often slow during peak times.  When I finally made the move to a dedicated server my profits almost doubled overnight.  Made me sick that I’d waited so long.

Feel free to suggest more if I left a good reinvestment opportunity out.

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a domain name honk.  The domain market is where I got started and I’m very thankful for that. I consider a domain name to be the foundation of any website and I place a tremendous amount of importance in choosing the right one.
 
Value Play – Background Info
While many consider domain names to be over priced in the after market I still consider premium keyword names to be undervalued as a whole.  I have personally bought numerous names for 5 figure sums and have sold into the 6 figure range (WT.com). All of these transactions represented value plays.  A premium keyword domain name affords a website many luxuries that include, but are not limited to:

• Higher Search Engine Rankings
• Brand Visibility
• Visitor Confidence
• Highly Targeted Direct Navigation (Type-in) Traffic
• Higher PPC Advertising Click Through Rates (and lower costs)

In high cost, high spend niches I’ve had 5 figure domain purchases pay for themselves in under 3 months.  I am not saying you have to back up the Brinks truck for a domain.  Not at all.  I just want to help you understand my perspective before digging into this article.

Types of Domains
When searching for a domain name I organize them to 4 basic categories. 

Keyword Domains
A keyword domain is simply a domain that is just a keyword.  Popular and commercial keyword domains are highly sought after for all of the reasons listed above and demand top after market prices.  Keyword domains can be further broken down into 1 word, 2 word and long tail keyword options.  The longer domains will generally have lower search volume, but many are still available for registration.
(examples: Insurance.com, Food.com, WeightLoss.com, WebHostingReviews.com)

My Take: When I talk about spending 5 figures on domains names they fall into this category.  I love category defining keyword domain names for so many reasons.  There are typically only 1 or 2 really premium keywords in a specific niche and getting one of those keywords in the .com extension is a big time trump card.

Brandable Domains
A brandable domain is one that isn’t a topical keyword and does not typically  let the audience know the nature of the website.  Those that do are generally a catchy misspell or variation of a relevant keyword.  Brandable domains can include non-topical dictionary words.  There are far too many variations of brandable domains to list but short domains are the most popular because they are easy to remember.  Many of the top websites online are built on brandable domains.  It is important to note that most also started with a large budget.
(Examples: Amazon.com, Google.com, Digg.com, Twitter.com, Flickr.com)

My Take: Websites built on brandable domains are tough to pull off without a large budget.  Most short or catchy sounding .com domains will typically fetch a decent premium in the after market.  I avoid these names for development in general as they cost more time and money to build the audience and don’t offer the SEO benefits of a nice keyword domain.

Descriptive Domains
A descriptive domain gives insight to the subject matter of a website.  They typically include key terms about the topic but are not significant keywords.  Descriptive domains can also include related phrases, jargon or slang words.  These domains can offer a solid brand presence and can often be found available to register or at lower after market prices.
(Example: DayJobFreedom.com)

My Take: I like descriptive domains when the top keywords are unavailable at a price I consider a value and when I have some other concern with a longer tail keyword domain (ie: length, spelling, possible confusion).  I like that descriptive domains can let the user know what to expect before they visit the site.  There is an SEO drawback with no keyword in the domain name though.  I rarely choose a descriptive domain but did for this site because the mass saturation of domains in this niche and the related asking prices in the after market.  

Hybrid Domains
I classify hybrid domains as keyword domains with an added descriptor at the beginning or the end of the domain.  Many examples have become popular, such as e or i names. Decent hybrid domains can typically be found available and account for many of the new registrations today.  Using a popular keyword at the beginning of a hybrid domain can also produce excellent SEO results.
(Examples: e[keyword].com, [keyword]world.com, super[keyword].com)

My Take: I really like hybrid domains when I can’t get a good keyword domain.  I especially like a top keyword at the beginning of the domain name because it offers really nice SEO benefits.  Although many of the popular hybrid names bring a premium in the after market there are still plenty to register with some creativity.  I think hybrid names are great for affiliate based sites.
(Note: I chose descriptive over hybrid for this site because the best hybrid names I could find were very long with Internet/online marketing as a primary keyword.)

Rules – Extensions, Dashes & Numbers
Other considerations when choosing a domain name are the extension as well as the use of dashes and numbers.  I’m going to break it all down below, but I strongly suggest you always go with a .com domain with no dashes or numbers as a general rule.

Extensions
Always shoot for .com.  It is the standard and everything else will leak some traffic to the .com version of your domain.  There are a few exceptions. If you have a localized audience then the corresponding country code extension (such as .de, .co.uk, .us) can be a great fit.  I’d want the .com as well if possible.  If your primary concern is search rankings then other top level extensions such as .net or .org can help you get ranked for exact match keywords.  I would not recommend anyone go with another top level extension such as .info or .biz.

Dashes
I try to stay away from dashes all together.  However, a dash separating a top 2 word keyword .com maybe be better than alternative options.  I would never suggest having more than 1 dash.  I would also never recommend a dash on a non .com domain name.  Multiple dashes may get some results for top keywords in the search engines but they look spammy and will get a low response rate.

Numbers
As with dashes, I dot not advise getting a domain with a number in it unless it is absolutely relevant.  

Keyword Research
Once you have your topic/niche picked out for your website it’s time to look at the options.  I suggest starting with the Google Adwords Keyword Tool.  

With this tool you can enter your the primary keyword or keywords for your topic to see the Google search volume and Adwords advertising competition for your terms entered and related keywords.

When using the tool use the advanced options to select your target location and language.  You might also want to select the radio button to show results for “Ideas containing my search terms” if your search results are too generic.

Once you’ve made your search you will want to sort by “Local Monthly Searches” to find the terms that have the most search volume.  You will also want to note the competition bar for each term.  Higher competition keywords are derived by the amount of advertisers bidding on that keyword within Google Adwords as well as the bid prices.

The screen shot below shows the search results for the office desk keyword

After reviewing some topical searches make a list of primary keywords you would like to target as well as some longer keywords that would be attractive alternatives.

Note: I also like to use a paid keyword tool called Market Samurai in addition to the Google tool.  They have a free trail available here.

Starting The Search
Now that you have a list of keywords it is time to see if they are available.  You can run this search at a registrar such as Godaddy or use a whois service like DomainTools.com.  I personally prefer a domain software called Domain Research Tool which also lets me send offers but it is more for a person that does this on a regular basis.

If you are in a competitive market there is a good chance none of the keywords will be available.  If you do happen to find a good keyword.com available then you probably want to register it and call it a day.  

If none of your keyword options are available in .com you should make a note if any of the .net or .org (or your local country code extension if you have a regional target audience) alternatives are available.  At this point you will also want to start searching for some descriptive and hybrid terms that fit your purpose.  Make a note of all of the domains you find available.

Marketplaces and Resellers
To further exhaust your options it is a good idea to search your key terms at some of the larger domain marketplaces and resellers.  You will sometimes find reasonable buy it now prices on keyword domains and there is a decent chance one or more of your target keyword domains are for sale at one of these locations.

I recommend checking: BuyDomains, Sedo, Afternic, Fabulous Domains and Godaddy.

To Buy Or Register
Assuming none of the top keyword domains were available it’s time to start weighing your options.  Before you do that you might want to step back and take a look at what a significant domain name could do for your websites/business and what you would be willing to pay for a high quality domain.

If you have a generic product or service a matching generic domain could mean everything.  On the other hand, if you are starting a personal blog you might want to consider an available registration.  Bottom line here is that it is a good idea to estimate the  benefits of a premium domain and set a tentative budget.

For pricing expectation purposes the median after market domain sale at the time I’m writing this article is $2,750 according to DNJournal.com. You might also want to check any domain of interest at Estibot, an auto-appraisal website. I don’t put much stock in appraisals, and Estibot is often way off but, it is one of the better guides online.

Making Contact With Registrants
So your favorite keyword domains are already registered and you haven’t found any great deals with after market sites.  No problem.  Let’s do a little digging to find out how much it will cost to snag one of your preferred domains that is already registered.  

The first step is to visit each of your desired domains to see if there is already a developed site.  If there is just a parking page of ads, no content or if it does not resolve (best case) you have a good acquisition prospect.  If there is a fully developed site it will probably be a lot tougher and you might want to consider removing it from your list unless you have a bigger budget.  (Note: I like buying existing websites for additional benefits of domain age, search engine saturation an search engine rankings but they can get very expensive)

After scanning the options it’s time to go back to DomainTools.com or another whois service and find the name, email address and phone number of the registrant.  You might also want to look at how long the domain has been registered.  The domain age has a positive impact on search rankings and also gives some insight into how much the registrant has invested in the domain.

Now that you are armed with the registrant info of your prospective domains you can start making contact.  I prefer to use an email first, call second approach.  I’ve found that when I call first I can catch people off guard and get a negative response which is tough to recover from.

I start with an email that contains the domain name as part of the subject.  In the email you will want to write a few sentences at minimum so the person knows it was written specifically to them.  Express your interest  in the domain and ask if they would consider selling it.  I also recommend making a decent offer if you really like the domain.  Be sure to include your phone number as well.  This lets them know you are serious and some people would much rather negotiate a sale over the phone.

If you don’t get a reply to your email in a day or two you will then want to move on to a phone call.  I find that I get a warmer response on the phone after sending an email.  The domain registrant knows that I am serious and they have had time to think about selling the domain, assuming they read the email.  

From the point of making contact is becomes a game of negotiation.  Try not to be the first person to put  number out unless your are making an offer.  A good way to get the domain owner to give you a number is to ask for a ballpark price.  If you do negotiate to a price point you like make sure the seller is willing to use an escrow service such as escrow.com for the transaction.  You might have to cover or split the escrow fees but it is worth the peace of mind.  I’d also like to note a pet peeve of mine.  Don’t make multiple offers unless you are willing to honor them.  Backing out of an offer after it is accepted is bad business.

Tough Calls
OK. Hopefully by now you will have some options.  Ideally, you will have a few domains available to register, a couple of after market options and sell prices from a few of your desired domains that are already registered.

This is where it gets hard to give advice because there are so many variables that could play into the decision. My decision making from this point is based on tacit knowledge.  

I suggest you ask a few friends for feedback and go with your gut.  If you are still stuck you are welcome to comment here for advice or ask me directly via the contact page.

In Early 2007, just about the same time I quit my day job,  Andy Hagans wrote a post on his Tropical SEO blog titled: How to: Build an Affiliate Site You Can Sell for $1M. 

I think this post was perhaps the best article I’ve ever read about making money online.  Even though I was already well on my way down the path Andy lays out in the post I really appreciated how his articulated the process so well.  I have often referred back to this post and think it is really a MUST READ for anyone that is getting started with affiliate based marketing.

 Andy has had a lot of success and no longer updates Tropical SEO.  In fact, the site no longer resolves.  I had emailed myself a copy of the post a while back and recently ran it by Andy to see if he was cool with me reposting it for you (he was).

Note: I’m not just talking the talk here.  I can vouch from first hand experience that this is doable, plus some. I’ll get into that later.

How to: Build an Affiliate Site You Can Sell for $1M

For this post I’m going to make an assumption you have started on the path to make an income online and currently have a full-time job (It’s OK if this description doesn’t fit you though).

I want to talk about the biggest sacrifice you will make on your journey to replace your day job income, TIME.  In the end time is the most valuable thing we have and it is almost always the primary currency to make a lifestyle change. 

As you have probably already figured out time is always the bottle neck (no, it’s not money).  There are opportunity costs associated to everything so one of the first steps to making your dream a reality is defining what you are willing to sacrifice in terms of time.  This is something you need to really think about and stick with.  You need to allocate your time for your online venture and make it routine.  If you don’t do this you will likely fail (no sugar coating here).

To help you, I’ll take you through the decision making process I had when I was working my full-time job.

Goal: To work at least two hours per day on my web sites

Options:
  At lunch – This wasn’t really an option for me as I typically had very little time for lunch at my job.

After work,  before I would go to bed – This is an option for many but I value time with my family more than anything so it was a non-option for me.

Late night – I would guess this is the option for most people.  I don’t function well when I’m tired so it wasn’t an efficient use of my time.

Weekend work sessions – By sessions I mean 6+ hours, basically a full work day.  This didn’t work for me because of the family time and because the web sites I was working on at the time required daily input.

In the morning before work - This was the option I chose.  I could get up and work a few hours before I had to go to my job and I didn’t miss any time with my family because they were all sleeping.

Outcome: I would get up between 3:30 and 4:00 am at least 6 days a week and work on my web sites.  I did this for 5 years before I was able to quit my day job.
(Note: I failed a lot over those 5 years.  My goal with this web site is to drastically reduce that time for you.)

Most people that hear about the schedule I kept immediately say, “There is no way I could do that!”  To be honest, I didn’t think I could either before I tried it. I have never been a morning person and I always thought I required at least 7 hours of sleep per night.  Thanks to coffee and some mental effort I was able to make it a routine to the point that it became second nature.  I realized that although I would prefer 6+ hours of sleep I could work efficiently in the morning with only 4-5 hours of sleep.  In fact, I still get up during the 4 am hour to this day.  It is my most productive time of the day.  This was my sacrifice.  It was challenging and became very difficult at times but it was well worth it. *yawn*

I want to finish this post off with a question for you:

If you have already started your online venture, what time do you sacrifice?
If you haven’t started yet, what time do you see yourself giving up to make it happen?

I’m in the process of creating some premium tools and guides for the DJF subscribers. I have a list started but I’m creating it for you so….. let me know what tools / software / content / guides you could use right now. The more specific you can be the better.

This is an open thread I’ll monitor on an ongoing basis so feel free to comment at any time.

If I were to make a list detailing why most online business attempts fail, it would start with unrealistic expectations.
 
Over the past 10 years I’ve had plenty of friends and family ask me to help them get started with a website or an online business.  In the early days I would spend a few hours with them going over the ins and outs of creating and marketing a website.  I always felt really good when we were done and confident they were going to just kill it.  That never happened.  Most fizzled out in less than a month. I eventually came to  realize I was partially to blame. I had covered all the technical details to get started on the right foot but I had failed to address many of the challenges to pull off a profitable venture. The missing pieces were assumed with blind optimism and the rest is history.
 
Before I start covering the nuts and bolts I want to make sure my readers have realistic expectations.  Here are 6 rules to understand before starting an online business.
 

1. Building An Online Business Is A Lot Of Work -  Dismiss any notion you might have about making money online being easy.  This might have been the case in 1997 but it is not reality today.  It is a GRIND, especially if you are working a day job at the same time.  Results are directly related to your inputs and nothing is going to come easy.  If you take nothing else away from this post it is important to understand that this is WORK.  I personally love this work and I hope you do too but it is still work.  A lot of it.
       

2. Organic Traffic Takes Time – Many of the people I’ve taught assumed search engine traffic was a gimme from the start.  It’s not.   There are numerous techniques to build a link profile and  rank in search engines to grow organic traffic, but even the best methods take time (think months to years, not days to weeks).  This is the same for building a list and word of mouth traffic.  Think of it as planting an acorn.  No matter what kind of fertilizer, soil or water you use it’s going to take some time to before that seed is an Oak Tree.        

3.  Paid Traffic Is Expensive – This rule assumes you are brand new to marketing a website.  Learning how to find targeted traffic for your niche and turn that traffic into sales/conversions is a learned skill.  I’ve seen so many people assume they know what they are doing and lose $1,000+ on Adwords (or Banner Ads) in no time at all.  Buying paid traffic should be done slowly with constant testing. (Note: expensive is relative to the return you get on the traffic.  I love my paid traffic.)
    
4. There Is A Significant Learning Curve –  Developing, maintaining and marketing a website requires several different skill sets and knowledge bases.  Coding, Design, HTML/CSS, Hosting, Databases, Configuring/Installing Scripts, Managing a Domain, SEO, Link Building, Advertising, Writing Copy and Marketing are some of the foundations.  You don’t have to master all of these skills yourself but you need to have a strong understanding what role they all play to competently outsource any of them.  This takes time and plenty of reading.
    
5. You Will Fail –  I’m not saying you will go down in flames, but you will experience failure along the way.  It may be small failures or a complete collapse (I’ve done both).  This is the point where many throw in the towel.  Don’t throw in the towel.  Failure is a part of the game. In fact, many of my successes were the result of unique insights I realized through failure. 
    
6. Not Every Niche Is Going To Make Money – This rule is a fine line, but it is important.  I hate to see people use this rule as an excuse to quit on a website/business before the proper effort has been put in.  With that said, it is critical that you know when to cut your losses and try something else. A bad business model is not going to be profitable not matter how much effort you give.  (Note: I will be covering how to pick a niche to avoid this problem in a later post)

Bottom Line: It takes time to build a profitable online business and there are no shortcuts (…but it is so worth it !).

I understand that there are always exceptions to these rules but they are exactly that, exceptions.  If you understand these rules and are prepared to embrace them you will start out way ahead of the game.

So you have probably never heard of me before reading this (my name is Bryan Gray by the way).  That has always been by design.  I’ve always been somewhat of a stealth marketer with a low profile.  I kept most of my secrets to myself and have locked down my high profit sites with private whois records and their own hosting accounts so they can not be traced or linked in any way.  I’ve done this because I spend a lot of time finding and dominating niches and the last thing I wanted was more competition.  I’ve done this for a long time and it is part of what I will be teaching here.

On the title statement  - Why I’m Going To Teach You

Given the way I’ve always operated it wouldn’t make sense for me to start teaching you what I do and giving away free content,  but alas, all things change.

Here are the reasons why I’ve decided to start teaching:

• It Is a Challenge – Teaching is one of the few things I have yet to tackle online.  In person I’ve taught numerous friends and family so I have been primed.  

• I Understand - One of my biggest soft spots is helping people who feel the way I felt when I was working a 9-5..6/7/8.  I hated it and was desperate to get out.  This is why I’ll be teaching other aspects of the process including time management and working around your current job.
  
  

• I’m Doing Fine - I’ve done well with my ventures.  This has allowed me to put some of my guards down to try new things.  Call it turning a new leaf I guess.
  
  
• I Don’t See The Content – I consume a lot of content surrounding Internet Marketing and Making Money Online and I don’t see a lot of really helpful content out there.  Either the writers aren’t talking or they don’t know.  Either way you need more direction.
  
  
• Karma – I’ve learned a lot of lessons over the years.  Some of my biggest windfalls have come from extending a hand expecting nothing return.  Good deeds are always rewarded.  (Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still have affiliate links and sell advertising. The content will be Free though).

So I’m looking forward to getting started.  I have a lot topics I want to cover already but I’d love to hear what you need.  What questions do you have?  What would help you move forward right now?  What blanks can I fill in?  

Let me know in the comments!