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If you've taken our business class you've heard us talk about the four pillars of internet marketing. To get you started, here are some links that we have mentioned in our class:
Here are the four pillars:
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Pillar 1 First Phase
Research
The research phase is THE most important part of your business preparations. Here are some great links and resources to aid you during this phase:
Google - The world’s most used search engine. Use it to check out your competition.
Google External Keyword Tool - This is where you go to find out how much traffic google is receiving for the keywords you are interested. Make sure to use "Phrase Match".
Yahoo - The “other” search engine that many people still use. (try clicking the “!” in their logo, it’s fun)
Wikipedia - Who doesn’t know about this? Great for finding information on new topics.
Ebay Pulse - Looking for a new product to sell? Pulse tells you what’s hot on eBay, right now, and gives a good indication of trends across the rest of the internet.
Product Research
ClickBank - The largest and most popular affiliate program database. Find eBook, software, and other downloadable products here.
Amazon - The payout is low, but if you can’t find any other products to sell, this is your best bet. You can sell ANYTHING you can find on Amazon. To become an Amazon affiliate, click here.
CJ (Commision Junction) - One of the larget affiliate networks on the web. If you want to major on promoting physical products, CJ is your best bet. Waring though, the system is fairly complicated.
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Can't think of the right name? try this site: MakeWords.com
Pillar 2 Second Phase
Traffic Phase
The traffic phase is where the rubber hits the road. Write and article, review, or some other piece of content, and see how it ranks for your keyword:
Squidoo - Perhaps the most important content site on the internet. Everyone should have at least one, if not many, Squidoo lenses.
Hubpages - A great content site… a little harder to use that Squidoo. Require more text.
Blogger - This is Google’s blog service. It’s very easy to use and ranks quite well in search engines… I wonder why?
Wordpress - Not to be confused with the Wordpress you install on your own host, this is a pre-hosted Wordpress blog you can use for free. It’s very easy to use, ranks really well, but is extremely sensitive to commercial intent.
Ezine Articles - The best article network online. Throws huge weight with search engines like Google and Yahoo!.
Go Articles - A little less powerful than Ezine Articles and a little more difficult to use. But it ranks well and is more forgiving of commercial users.
Weebly - Simple and beautiful. Weebly is a excellent little web creator and great for making a small website if you don’t want to pay for a host.
Web Tools
HostMonster - There are a million and one web host’s on the internet who will host your site… this is one of the best. This is My personal reccomendation based on many years of experience with them.
Aweber - Email capture
Joomla! - The free and open source site management system. It’s very powerful and can take a litle time to use, but there are thousands of great themes for it and you can outsource site management very cheaply online.
Wordpress - The other great free and open source site managment system. Wordpress is easier to operate than Joomla! and it better for blogs and small sites. If you have a fairly large site in mind though, go with Joomla!. Like Joomla! Outsourcing can be done quite cheaply.
OSSkins - Here you can find hundreds of skins, some free, some paid, for both Wordpress and Joomla!. If you are planning to make your site yourself, you should take a look at these! If you want to outsource, you can safely ignore this.
FileZilla (Windows) or Cyberduck (Mac) - If you decide to manage your own site, you will need a good FTP program. These are both excellent and will serve you well.
Google Analytics - Tracking is everything. Once you know where you’re getting your sales from, you will then know how to make more of them! This requires a google account. You can get one, and a free email, by signing up for Gmail.
Google Docs - This is a great tool for writing articles, excel sheets, and powerpoint slides. I encourage everyone to use Google Docs, especially during the workshop, so that you can view and edit your documents remotely.
Spyfu and SEO Digger - Use these two "spy" tools to get information on your competition and find out what keywords and optimization they use. Very useful!
Pillar 3 Third Phase
Conversion
The Conversion Phase is all about improving our site's ability to do what we designed it to do:
Google Analytics - In the conversion stage, your stats are your most useful tool. Once you know where you’re getting your sales from, you will then know how to make more of them! This requires a google account. You can get one, and a free email, by signing up for Gmail.
Spyfu and SEO Digger - Use these two "spy" tools to get information on your competition and find out what keywords and optimization they use. Very useful for learning how to improve your pages!
Site Seer - Stompernet's Site Seer is a great tool to help point you in the right direction as to what things need to be improved with your site so you can improve your traffic and user experience.
Pillar 4 Fourth Phase
Product
Although there are hundreds of ways you can come up with a product for your market, here are some of the best that I've ever used:
ClickBank - The largest and most popular affiliate program database. Find eBook, software, and other downloadable products here.
Amazon - The payout is low, but if you can’t find any other products to sell, this is your best bet. You can sell ANYTHING you can find on Amazon. To become an Amazon affiliate, click here.
Lulu - Allows you to make everything from books to DVDs to calendars. The best part? They print on demand! No storage or bulk orders necessary. And, they let you offer commissions to affiliates.
Cafe Press - One of the larget affiliate networks on the web. If you want to major on promoting physical products, CJ is your best bet. Waring though, the system is fairly complicated.
Etsy - Like eBay, but strictly for hand-made goods. It has grown greatly in popularity over the last year and is a great place to sell hand-crafted items without competing with commercial companies.
WorldWideBrands.com - The most legitimate index of Drop-ship companies available.
Publishing
Kunaki - The easiest and most cost effective CD and DVD publishing service for low quanities.
Createspace - Amazon's consumer publishing service which includes books, DVD's, CD's and more.
DiscMakers - A cost effective CD and DVD publishing house for high quantities.
Store
SmallBusiness.Yahoo.com - Great for all -in- one estore.
BigCartel.com - Add a simple and free shopping cart to your site.
FoxyCart.com - A complete and beautiful ecommerce system for designers.
Clickbank.com - Sell your downloadable product and make it available to affiliates.
Paypal.com - Simplest way to sell a single item in any context.
Note: Cafepress and LuLu also will host an online store for you items you create with them.
Outsourcing Links
This grab bag of links can help you get just about anything done for your websites or products:
eLance - The largest and most popular outsourcing website. Find professionals in amost any field and hire them for great prices to help you with your site or products. Favors 1st world countries.
Rent a Coder - Very similar to eLance, but it tends to be faster and cheaper over all. There's a much greater 3rd world presence here and prices are exceptionally low.
99designs - List a project with what you are willing to pay for a good design and judge the entries. Best part? You only pay for the best one!
Crowdspring - Similar to 99designs, but a different community of artists.
Additional Links
Wealthy Affiliate - If you are intrigued by affiliate marketing and choose to focus on this form of passive-income, we highly recommend Kyle and Carson’s tremendous affiliate marketing community. It may be the only thing you will need to become successful in this field.