I have made a video that shows you how to go about looking for a profitable niche, a product to sell within that niche and also your keyword research (sorry, the volume of the video is quite low)





Resources mentioned on the video:


1a. Sign up for a Clickbank account here
1b. Go to the Clickbank marketplace here


2a. Sign up as an Amazon Affiliate here (UK residents)
2b. Sign up as an Amazon Affiliate here (US residents)
2c. Go to Amazon Bestsellers here (UK)
2d. Go to Amazon Bestsellers here (US)


3. Use the Google Keyword tool here


4. Get the reviewAZON plugin for putting Amazon reviews on your Blog here


5. Have a look at Micro Niche Finder here

I’ve recently purchased some new themes from Woo Themes. All of their themes allow you to change the layouts around so much, with many options and functionalities. Please bear with me as I find the right look for mine…i get quite fussy when it comes to the look of my Blog, so you might see it change around quite a bit in the near future until i am happy with it.

If you’ve never seen Woo Themes before, take a look (click on the big banner to go to their site). Currently, if you buy one theme, you get two for free. They also have a few free themes on their site that you can download too.

Planning and focus, along with time management can and will play a massive part in your success online, and I would go as far to say that it will be the difference to you succeeding or failing.


95% of people who try to make an income online fail. Why? Because they don’t have a plan and they lack focus.


Unfortunately, when people first start looking into making an income online, they become bombarded with sales pages and emails telling them how they can make thousands of dollars over night. Of course this is going to catch the eye, and the imagination of those who are just starting out. It is easy for them to get sucked in by the expertly written sales copy and they jump on the payment button, the anticipation of new riches to hard to resist (sound familiar?).


Now I’m not saying that these programs don’t deliver quality information, there are some great products available that can really help people move forward in their business (there is also a lot of rubbish around too).


But the problem comes from people not giving them enough time to work. Expectations of overnight success is a very dangerous mind set, but this is what many people expect unfortunately.


A few days later they will see another product that again promises unrivaled wealth, so they buy this and don’t finish the last product they purchased. This will continue, and in the end they will have spent a fortune on different products, yet not finished any of them, thus making very little, and most of the time no money from their short burst efforts.


So how should people avoid this very common trap that captures 95% of new entrepreneurs?

Answer: Planning and FOCUS


If you’re just starting out online, I would recommend looking through a lot of the free material that is available. You can get your hands on many free eBooks from Giveaway events or by signing up to other marketers mailing lists that will provide you with lots of information on different strategies that you could pursue online. Once you have researched the different strategies and become more familiar with them, then you should be able to make a decision of a strategy that you would like to work on.


Now is the time to start your planning. Without a plan, you will have nothing to focus on!


Let’s say you choose list building as your first online strategy you want to pursue. First you want to set yourself a goal that you want to achieve in your list building in a one month period. Make your goal realistic, but at the same time don’t be too easy on yourself. You will find that once you start achieving your goals it will spur you on to further progress.


Okay, so let’s say you are new to list building, and your one month goal is to get the first 100 subscribers on your list. You now need to work back from that goal and decide how you will achieve it. Make sure you document all of your plans, as once you have them laid out it will help you keep your focus and working to your plan.


So if list building is new to you, these are the type of things you will need to be doing to achieve your first month goal:


- Sign up to an autoresponder service such as AWeber.
- Get yourself a Hosting account if you don’t already have one.
- Get yourself a free product you can use to give away to build your list.
- Learn how to set up a squeeze page.
- Get all of your files and product uploaded to your Hosting account.
- Sign up for as many Giveaway events as you can.


From this list, work out what you think you can do in your first week. Write this down again. Then each night you should write down the tasks that you are going to work on the next day.


How to stay focused on your plan:


To stay focused, you need to first rid yourself of any external distractions such as a television. Try and find a quiet room in the house to work if possible, so you’re not disturbed by family members wanting your attention.


You then need to close of any online distractions…you know the ones…emails, Twitter, Facebook. All of these can take your focus away from the job at hand, so close them down until you have finished your daily tasks.


One technique that I find very effective is to give each task an estimated time limit. Then get yourself a countdown timer (I use my IPod) and try to get that task done in the set time.


Example: If your daily tasks were to:


1. Make a new list in AWeber – 15 minutes
2. Make a new squeeze page – 1 hour
3. Upload your files to your hosting account – 15 minutes


By giving yourself these time frames to work to, you will find it will drastically improve your productivity because it keeps you focused on the job at hand. You’ll be amazed at how much more work you get done if you plan and organize like this.


So just remember, without any goals you will have nothing to plan for. Without a plan you will have nothing to focus on. That is why planning and focus are imperative to your online success.

I haven’t posted on my Blog for quite a while now, and for the last two weeks my work has almost come to a standstill. But that was purely self imposed, as late in the evening on Friday, February 5th my girlfriend gave birth to our beautiful little boy, Tio.


This is our first child, so not having any parenting experience has left us both totally exhausted, but also completely elated. I am still amazed when I look at little Tio, he really has changed my perspective on everything. This little boy has now changed my outlook on life, as I want to give him the best life possible. I now have a greater purpose, and this has only increased my desire to make my business as successful as I possibly can.


So, even though I have taken a couple of weeks without doing much with my business, I will now be very focused on continually moving my business forward so I can give the best possible life to Tio.

I can’t believe this year is nearly over, it just seems like only a few weeks ago when I was writing my post, “2008 Reflection”.

But now when I actually give myself a minute to sit back and reflect on 2009, I realize just how much my life has changed, not just in my business but also in my private life too…and fortunately they are all positive changes.

Back in March this year, I left my job as a Casino Manager onboard cruise ships. I had spent 13 years at sea working on

Cruise Ship in Bermuda

the ships and it really has been an incredible chapter in my life. It has taken me all over the world, and I have been very fortunate to have experienced some amazing countries and cultures.

I left my job on the ships to take up Internet Marketing full time, and also to move out and live in Thailand. I have been

Beach in Thailand

living here with my girlfriend since May, and now we are expecting our first child in February next year. I am so happy I made these big changes this year, because I am just loving my life out here in beautiful Thailand and really excited to become a father soon.

On a professional level, my business has just really taken off in the last few months. The change for the better all really started when I joined Alex Jeffreys coaching program back in July. Alex showed me how to focus on the right things in my business, and also installed in me the importance of having a clear plan.

This has been invaluable to me and is the reason for my business increasing 10 fold in the last few months. When I joined Alex’s coaching back in July, my list was at around 500 subscribers, now it is over 6000. I have now created my own product, and I am also building niche websites at the rate of about 1 a week and I have just finished hosting my own Giveaway event. Of course my earnings have increased dramatically because of all this.

But I am not going to slow down. In fact, I am planning to build my business to much larger proportions in 2010.

How You Can Succeed in 2010

Now I want to help you start the New Year off in the right way and get some momentum going for you.

As I mentioned earlier, to succeed you need to have a plan and a clear picture of where you want to be and how you are going to get there.

What I suggest you do before the new year starts, is to get yourself a pen and note pad and give yourself a couple of hours where you can close yourself off from any distractions. Whether you do this by shutting yourself in your office or bedroom, or by going to sit in Starbucks on your own. Just as long as you can sit down and concentrate without the normal daily distractions getting in the way.

What you need to do is decide where you want to be in your business and your life by the end of 2010. Set yourself realistic goals for both your professional and personal life.

To achieve these goals you need to have a clear plan of how you are going to get there. The best way to do this is to break your plan down into four 90 day plans, then your first 90 day plan into a monthly plan, then your first monthly plan into a weekly plan. You should then always give yourself a to-do list for the next day, with all of the jobs you list helping you achieve your long term goals.

Creating your plan should be a priority for you. I will readily say that without a plan YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED. It’s as simple as that.

So I strongly urge you to find a couple of hours before the end of this year to sit down, shut out any distractions and work out your 1 year, 90 day, 1 month and your first weeks plans.

What I Will be Doing to Help You

Last month I made a post titled “Help me to help you”. I will be using the responses there to base some of my next blog posts around.

These are some of the things I will be covering:

- How to create a website
- Market research, how to find a profitable niche
- Time management
- How to stay focused
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

I have created a new category in my Blog called “Action Steps” and this is where I will be posting these instructional posts.

I would just like to take this opportunity to say that I look forward to working with you in the New Year. I wish you and your families all the best for the holidays, and here’s to a VERY prosperous 2010 to us all.