What is niche marketing?

Companies and blogs know that in order for their marketing efforts to be successful, they need to reach what is known as their niche audience or target demographic. A niche audience are the Internet users who will be the most likely to purchase a product, be interested in a service, or read a blog. With a savvy niche marketing strategy, companies and websites are spending less money on marketing to people who have no interest in what they have to offer.

Professionals called online niche marketers help companies, websites, and blogs reach their niche audiences by tracking down the latest keyword trends on the Internet. Once a niche marketer knows what users are searching for and how often they are searching for it, they can easily focus their marketing efforts on that keyword niche.

Being a niche marketer, however, does have its pros and cons just like many other Internet professions. The Internet is flooded with tons of people trying to make a living as online marketers, so the profession is quite saturated as it is.

Also, up until recently, there have been very few reliable ways to track down the exact keyword niches that are popular with Internet users at the right time. Not only do the right keywords have to be found, but they have to be found at the right time since Internet keyword trends often change very quickly.

5 niche marketing tips

Even with a couple of big roadblocks in the niche marketing field, there are several ways to be successful. Whether an Internet niche marketer is just starting out or has been trying to make it in the field for a while, here are 5 tips to give you an advantage.

1. Use keyword research

Keyword research is a powerful method of gathering information from multiple sources. Thus, niche marketing software (such as the one found at the Internet Time Machine) is a valuable resource when marketers need to find what niches Internet users are currently searching for. As noted, finding the right keyword trends at the right time is crucial and using cloud computing programs will save time and frustration.

Not only can niche marketers see what keywords are trending online but they can also track what keyword trends are moving up and down in popularity. If a niche marketer sees a term moving up in popularity with Internet users, they will be able to jump on it and use the niche in their search keyword marketing before everyone else catches on.

2. Narrow your marketing tactics

Every day, I come across an advertisement or forum post that includes a link or some other online marketing tactic that looks out of place. A good example of this would be posting a comment on a computer tech forum about a new herbal remedy.

Tactics such as these build website traffic and put the product or business name out there, but if the product or service niche does not match up with the website that it is being marketed on, then it will be ignored. In the same regard, the marketing efforts could be seen as spam, which can be detrimental to any marketing campaign.

3. Accept that not all keywords will catch on

Normally, giving up in any profession is not advised. However, when it comes to niche marketing, there are going to be times where keyword trends are either going to be too short lived to provide any revenue over the long term, or times when trends just don’t catch on as well as marketers thought they would.

In these two instances, it is perfectly all right to move on and direct niche marketing efforts toward other keyword trends. Knowing when to let go of a niche and move on is key to becoming a successful niche marketer.

4. Have an outgoing attitude

Online marketing and keyword niche marketing allows marketers to work at a computer and very seldom do they have to come into contact with other people. To become a successful niche marketer, however, an outgoing attitude can go a long way.

Even though face-to-face meetings are not the norm, online marketers still have to reach out to their niche audience, communicate effectively, and enlist the help of freelance writers, web designers, graphic artists, and other marketers.

At the very least, interpersonal communication is a huge asset. Internet users seem to gravitate toward humor and out-of-the-box thinking. Along with being able to communicate effectively, being outgoing and forward-thinking can help hone the creative skills needed to come up with marketing ideas.

5. Ensure the website is worth visiting

Finally, whether a niche marketer is marketing their own website or someone else’s, the audience is going to end up visiting the website (if the marketing efforts work). However, using niche marketing for a product, service, or blog will only pay off if the user arrives at a website that is visit-worthy.

Visit-worthy implies that the website is clean, up to date, secure, and contains information that the user is looking for. Since marketing efforts are not considered successful unless the niche audience buys the products or services being offered or reads the blog, it is very important that the website worth visiting. If Internet users feel misled in any manner, chances are good that they will not be visiting again.

Summary

You can market an Internet niche in many ways, but these tips should help you find your targets and deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

So a year and a half ago I set out to write up all my experiences in building up blogs into businesses into a how-to book. It took way longer than I thought it would, and the resulting book is rather thick. But I’m very proud of the effort and I don’t think there’s another book out there quite like it!

The book is titled How to Build a Successful Blog Business and includes three case studies from our network, about the Tuts, FreelanceSwitch and AppStorm sites. It includes graphs of our blog income and expenses, personal experiences and step by step how-to manuals on hiring, building, writing, growing and creating successful, profitable blog businesses.

If you haven’t already, visit the Blog Business sales page where you can get your copy, as well as find out what top bloggers like Darren Rowse, Daniel Scocco and Yaro Starak are saying about the book.

Sample Extracts of the Book

If you’d like to read some sample extracts, you can grab a few from the case studies over on our various blogs:

• Extract from the Psdtuts case study
• Extract from the Nettuts case study
• Extract from the FreelanceSwitch case study
• Extract from the AppStorm case study

Hope you enjoy the book!

Making money by blogging is difficult, but it isn’t impossible. If you do what successful bloggers did, work hard and give it the time it takes, there’s no reason why your blog shouldn’t make money. Here are the 13 keys to making money from your blog, according to me. Why 13, why not 20 (or 10)? Well, I couldn’t think of more (or less). If something else comes to your mind that I haven’t covered here, please make use of the comments section.

1. Focus on consistency.

In my opinion, this is the biggest reason why a majority of bloggers end up making peanuts, even after months of blogging…well, inconsistent blogging. If you don’t post consistently, you lose readers, traffic, and eventually, your blog.

Whether you post every day or once a week, you need to be consistent with that frequency. Just think about it. Would you read a daily newspaper if it didn’t get published each day? Or a weekly magazine that comes out only on some weeks? It’s the same with blogs. Posting frequency matters, and matters a lot if you intend to make money from your blog. As Darren tells here, a consistent posting frequency is important.

2. Invest some time in marketing.

Celebrated blogger Gary Vaynerchuk once famously said, “Content is king but marketing is queen and the queen runs the household.”

Content is the most important part, no doubt. If your content doesn’t impress, no marketing can help the blog survive in the long term. But if you completely ignore content promotion, even the best content won’t help you reach your goals.

Understand that blogging as a profession has come a long way in the last several years. There are millions of blogs on the internet, all striving for attention. So don’t just write and wait for visitors. Go out and get them. Promote your posts on social sites like Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and contact other bloggers to introduce yourself and your site.

3. Listen to your readers.

Since you intend to make money blogging, you need to understand your visitors: What do they like to read? What are their problems? What do they expect from your blog? You need to listen to them and give them what they want.

There are various tools and methods you could use to listen to your audience. Check this brilliant article by Chris Brogan on social media monitoring.

4. Manage your expectations.

Don’t think of blogging as a get-rich-quick scheme. Have you just published your first post with all kinds of ads and pop-ups on the site, which, you hope, will start making dollars any minute now?

If so, read this post by Seth Godin on get rich quick schemes. Then see what problogger Darren Rowse has to say on the expectation of making money fast by blogging. If you still don’t get it, well, then as Darren puts it, head to the casino!

5. Read and follow.

I think one of the best things about making money from blogging is that you really don’t need to be innovative. There are tried and tested methods that work, and you just have to follow them diligently, work in that direction, and be patient. That’s it.

However, if you are too busy to read feeds and read what other successful bloggers have to say about the tricks of the trade, the path ahead will get tougher for sure.

6. Avoid “analysis paralysis.”

Wikipedia defines analysis paralysis as “over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation, so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome.”

So how can analysis paralysis prevent you from making money by blogging? It makes you procrastinate and delays content creation. And that makes you inconsistent (remember the first point, consistency?).

Don’t believe me? Read how Chris Garrett figured out ways of defeating procrastination and analysis paralysis. The point is, instead of over-thinking and over-contemplating, just take action and get things done. They don’t have to be perfect to begin with, but getting started with them is more important.

7. Network with other bloggers.

Building relationships is important in any business, and blogging is no exception. If you find networking with other bloggers and talking to them difficult or boring, then you are losing out on many fronts.

Networking with other bloggers is important. It helps you discover what works and what doesn’t. Plus, you could partner with people online and generate more income opportunities.

Check out this nice article on how to optimize your social networking for more on this.

8. Link to other blogs often.

If you’ve been blogging for some time, I’m sure you’ve heard the term SEO (search engine optimization). SEO refers to things you need to do to enhance your blog’s visibility in the search engine ranking pages, or SERPs. And one of its aspects is link-building.

Now, if you are shy in linking to other blogs, you’ll have a hard time in getting links too. Popular and established blogs can afford to do that, but not you. As a new blogger looking to make money in the long term from your blog, you should link out and link out often.

9. Never stop learning.

It’s always good to learn as much as you can about making money by blogging. So scour the internet for various monetization options for a blog or a website. Honestly, there are tons of ways to do it and you don’t have to rely on any one method.

Here are 2 articles to get you started:

• Problogger’s article repository on blog monetization.
• FreelanceSwitch’s article on marketing your services by leveraging your blog (that’s one of the ways to make money from your blog too).

10. Develop a strong work ethic.

Making a regular income from a blog requires work. Hard work. Just because you can work from home any time in your pajamas doesn’t mean it’s easy. Ask any blogger who’s made money from blogging and you’ll hear about the kind of consistent work it takes to make it happen. If you don’t have it in you, you had better look somewhere else.

Lorelle VanFossen has written an article on hard work and blogging on Blog Herald, where she talks about the various aspects of blogging like writing, maintenance, social media, and other blogging challenges. Check it out.

11. Sell stuff.

If you’ve created a small but loyal audience who read and comment frequently, don’t be afraid of selling them information products like ebooks, audio/video products, or anything else that provides value. You just need to make sure that you’ve earned their trust before you do it.

If you are wondering how to get started with it, Michael Martine’s post on basics of selling information products and consulting should help you.

12. Create an email list.

John Chow recently mentioned not having an email list from Day One as one of his biggest blogging mistakes. And most of the other well-known bloggers would agree. Mailing lists are known to convert better than other means like blog posts because people read their emails more often than the blogs they are subscribed to.

Simply put, if you don’t have a mailing list, you are leaving a lot of money on the table.

13. Write from your heart.

While writing this article, I remembered a guest post I wrote for Problogger about writing from your heart. If you aren’t passionate about your blog, if you don’t feel like putting in the effort and creating content, then there’s no point sticking around trying to earn a few bucks. You might make some money in the short term but, in the long term, it’ll be difficult to sustain the profitability.

1. Choose a report topic

If you’re already an expert in your niche, it’s pretty easy to pick a topic that people will want to learn and that you’d enjoy teaching them. The bonus to this scenario is you’ll have built-in credibility.

If that’s not the case for you, do some research in a niche-related forum or social networking site to identify a problem that people are seeking a solution for.  It might be harder work since you don’t have experience with the topic, but you’re guaranteed a built-in audience.

If you’re an affiliate marketer, brainstorm report topics by thinking slightly outside the box. Your report can relate to the same general topic as something you already promote (or would like to), and lead readers to buy that product.

2. Choose an upsell product

If you’re an expert or an affiliate, this step might be already done; otherwise you need a product that your report will upsell to (i.e., an additional or more expensive product that your customer may want to purchase). Even if your report’s main purpose is to build your email opt-in list, it’s always good to lead into something else, which gives you the potential to sell a bigger-ticket item.

If you’re writing about your expertise, you could promote your own e-book, seminar, phone coaching, or any other product or service you sell on the same topic. Otherwise, go to ClickBank, Commission Junction, PayDotCom, or a similar affiliate marketing service provider and search the marketplace for a product that makes sense. Check the stats and sales pages to see if the product performs well and is professionally displayed. Then email the product owner to ask for a review copy, or consider purchasing it so you can be sure you’re endorsing a quality product.

3. Choose a topic focus

The best way to focus your report topic is to start by laying out your table of contents. This gives you a skeleton to work with, keeps you on track, and helps your writing flow. Write down questions that people would ask about the topic, and then change them into chapter headings. Don’t try to answer everything about the topic and don’t duplicate what’s in your recommended product, but do give your readers good value. Not only will they appreciate the report, but they’ll be more likely to look at your recommended product if the report really delivers.

4. Research the topic

If you’re wondering why the research didn’t come first, it’s because researching before focusing your topic will waste time and collect too much unnecessary information. Working through your outline, you can now go to Google and research just the answers to the questions that formed the basis of each chapter, or just some outside opinions and information to support what you already know, if you’re an expert.

Focus on credible-looking, professional sources (such as well-known newspapers, magazines, blogs, government agencies, and corporations) instead of amateur-looking websites for your sources.

5. Write the report

Take the information that you’ve gathered for each chapter and rewrite it completely in your own words. It’s fine to quote a sentence here or there, and give credit to the source, but never plagiarize what somebody else has written. Once it’s written, read it over to fix any awkward or repetitive wording, and do a final check of your spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

6. Transition to your upsell

Lead into the product or service you’ve chosen to promote by writing a short paragraph at the end of your report, or inserting an eye-catching headline, perhaps one that asks a question that the reader might still have. Make it clear that you hope people have learned something valuable from the report, and that you’ve got something that can help them improve their efforts or results even more. Then insert a link to the product, and be sure to use a redirect off your own site if it’s an affiliate link (for example, it might be http://yoursite.com/solution).

7. Enhance your report format

Make your report even more professional-looking with some nice formatting. Start with a title page, which can be as simple as the report title in a large colored font, or go the extra mile with a custom graphic cover.

Make your chapter headings bold, in a different color if you like, and start them each at the top of a new page. Sub-headings, section breaks, and graphics will make your report more interesting and easier to read, too. You can find pictures to use for free by going to Flickr.com’s Creative Commons page of free stock images for commercial use and searching for related photos that require “attribution,” meaning you have the right to use them if you give credit to the photographer.

Turn your document into a PDF, and voila — you have your very own value-driven report with professional impact.

Summary

You can use your report as a giveaway incentive for people to sign up to your list, and deliver it automatically once they confirm their email address; or you can sell it for a low price point, like the popular $7, which gives you revenue on both the front and back end.

Now that you know how to write a report, as well as how to monetize it, it’s time to get to work!

Listen now:

Download the interview. (Right-click and “Save link as”)

TB: Hi, I’m Thursday Bram and I’m here today with Chris Guillebeau. Chris, could you tell us a little about yourself?

CG: Sure, thanks for having me. So, I’m Chris, as you said. And I publish the blog Art of Non-Conformity. I’m a full-time writer and I support myself with a backend business called Unconventional Guides, and in that business, I sell information products about self-employment, and travel, and related topics.

And then I also travel quite a bit myself. I’m trying to visit every country in the world, so I go to about 20 countries a year and I operate the business and do the writing from wherever I am.

TB: So how did you get your business set-up the way that it is? How did you put everything together to allow you to travel as much as you do?

CG: This business actually didn’t begin very strategically, it actually happened quite organically. So I’ve been working for myself for about 10 years, most of my adult life, and I was overseas for 4 of those years as an aide worker in Africa and then I moved back to the States and started the non-conformity blog. And before that I had done a lot of little business things, which we can talk about, but this business grew out of all the questions I was receiving.

I started this blog and I was talking about how I did all this travel stuff and I noticed that people are asking a lot of the same questions over and over. For example, they were asking questions about how you book discount airfare, and how much does it cost, and how do you get around-the-world plane tickets, and use frequent flyer miles, and that kind of stuff.

And so I just decided: Let me try something out and see how people respond. I created my first information product, which was just in an ebook, in the summer of 2008 and I put that out there to see how people would respond. I said that all of the content on my blog is going to continue to be free, of course, and I don’t want to have third-party advertising on my blog, but I also have this ebook and if you’re really interested in travel, maybe you can pick this up as well.

So I started that and people responded really well and a couple months later, I did another guide, got a little more strategic about it, and that guide was called, The Unconventional Guide to Working For Yourself. Over the next 12-18 months, I started thinking about building the business out a bit more strategically and creating a range of products, so that’s how it came about. It wasn’t really strategic, it wasn’t quite by accident, it just was the natural extension of the blog that I was building.

TB: You mentioned a couple of businesses that came first. Could you maybe talk about them and your background, education, and all of that?

CG: My educational background was in sociology, which was great. It was fun and definitely helped me a lot, but it wasn’t that conducive to employment. And, you know, to get a job as a sociologist you have to have a PhD basically, but I had an undergraduate degree and I had about half of a master’s degree, which doesn’t go very far.

So when I was 20, I was working at FedEx, carrying boxes around. It wasn’t that great of a job. In the morning, I would get up and go to class, so I was really tired. This was 10 years ago. I started a small eBay business, I just started selling some things around my house because I needed some money and I realized I could make about $20-$25 an hour doing that, which was great, because at FedEx I was making $8 an hour.

So, from there I learned how to do a lot of different things. I imported coffee for a while. I sold coffee to distributors, wholesalers. I had that business for about a year. From there, I started helping other people build small businesses on eBay. Again, this was a long time ago when it was much easier to do that. Then I learned how to do web design, did some business strategy consulting. I did some work with Google Adsense and Adwords for a few years.

I wasn’t really building a huge business or anything. My main motivation was: How can I support myself so I don’t have to have a regular job? And then when we moved overseas, my motivation was: How can I support my wife and myself so we can do the volunteer work that we need to do? I’m not trying to get rich, but definitely trying to create some kind of independence. So that’s how all that came about.

TB: You said something interesting, that you’ve worked with eBay sellers to help them set up their businesses in the past. One of the things I’ve noticed about a lot of your products is that they focus on helping people put together the business that can support them, or the resources they need to put together that business. Is there a particular reason you’re interested in that topic?

CG: Well, I think it’s something that a lot of people are interested in. When you can focus on the bigger picture issues, like creating independence, creating freedom, and then relate those to the practical issues of how do you start a small business, how can you create some kind of side income, and then eventually scale that to a full-time income.

That’s what I know how to do, that’s what I’ve done for 10 years, and so I always think it’s important when you’re developing a new business to really look at what you’re good at and what you’re passionate at, and then what other people are also interested in and also passionate about and also, willing to spend money on. So the convergence between those things, self-employment and starting a business, and being location independent or travel the world – it’s something that resonates with a lot of people.

TB: I’d like to get down to some of the specifics of how you operate your business now. How do you put together one of your products? How do you choose a topic? Can you walk us through that process?

CG: Yes, in the beginning it was basically just response to questions. So for a travel product, it’s kind of like people need to do a variety of things to travel the world, or maybe they just need to go home once a year or something. How can we a create a solution that allows them to do that that saves them money? Same thing with the Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself. It was like: Here’s everything I’ve learned in 10 years of self-employment, here’s basically whatever I can think of in that bucket that I can give.

Now over the next year, I got a little bit more strategic. I started doing some customer surveys where I would present different ideas to my existing customer base or maybe even my blog readership and say: “Here’s where I’m thinking of going, what do you think about this? Here are 5 different ideas, can you rank these ideas?” So that was very helpful figuring out what I’m about and what people are interested in buying.

And I think probably now, at this point, I have the classic entrepreneur problem, which is more ideas than time. There’s all kinds of things that I would love to do and not enough time to do them in everything else that’s happening. So now I mostly just do what I’m motivated to do. I try not to do anything that I’m not motivated to do.

When I create a product I think: “First of all, what is the offer going to be? Because it’s really important to think about the offer right from the beginning. So the offer is the deliverables, what’s going to be included? Is it an ebook? Is it an ebook, plus some kind of multi-media which works really well and creates a value add? How will the product be delivered? What are the main benefits of the product?” Always think about that stuff in the beginning.

Then I get a little more serious about crafting the product and if I’m working with a partner then we decide who’s doing what. If it’s a writing project, then I’ll try to set aside some time to do all the writing, create the audio files, whatever I need to do. Then I build it out over the course of 1-3 months or so.

Then as I’m getting closer to the end, I might look for some other input from people. I might look to create some bonuses, I might look to think a bit more carefully how I’m going to pitch it and what kind of messaging I want to use to get the best response. One of the things that has been really good for me is I try not to have a hard-sell approach. I try to have a very soft-sell approach and a filtering process where I try to be very clear about who is going to be helped through the guide and the product and who is not going to be helped.

And I try to gently steer away anyone who might not be a good fit. That really helps people build up trust. It helps build relationships over the long term. It helps people see: “Okay, maybe this product isn’t the best fit for me, but maybe something else is.” So, that’s one of the things that has helped me. That’s a general overview.

TB: One of the things that really intrigued me about your last couple of launches for Empire Building Kit was that I saw them on a lot of sites that didn’t seem or don’t really do a lot of affiliate marketing reviews or anything like that. Would you talk about how you built that network with a lot of sites that are popular, but aren’t as necessarily as into building the business or that same niche?

CG: I think part of it is just the natural effect of building relationships over time and building influence over time to where I have a pretty good track record now. If I do something, then people are going to pay attention to it. If I offer a way to participate, then people are going to be excited about it. For the first year or so I had an affiliate program, but I really didn’t do anything with it. It was very hands-off. It was like: “Here, you can go and sign up for the affiliate program and you basically have to figure it out yourself.” Which is fine because it’s still there.

But, for this time, with the Empire Building Kit, as you mentioned, I wanted to get a little bit better at that and so I have an affiliate manager now who works with me and he’s actually been contacting everyone who’s signed up for the affiliate program to let them know what’s happening, what the launch is going to be, and how they can participate, and what they need to do.

So that is a little bit more of a hands-on process of individual relationships and trying to show people how they can endorse the product if they so choose and how they can benefit from it. I think it also helps that I’m going to higher priced products now, although it’s still mid-range, but it’s easier to build a profitable affiliate program if the affiliates are really excited about it, if they can get paid more than they would for like a $20 ebook or something.

TB: The other thing about your product launches is you’ve launched a product on a train and you’ve launched a product just before you left for Africa. How do you put together that sort of launch?

CG: It’s funny you mention that. Until recently, I actually tried really hard not to be traveling during a product launch because so many things are happening and also there is the potential for so many things to go wrong that I’ve always wanted to be at home during that time.

But, I also have to balance that with a need to tell a good story. I think storytelling is very, very important in copywriting, and presenting an offer. And also considering the fact that since I’m launching my products from a blog, probably 95% of the blog readers are interested in the product, or they’re not interested in buying something. And that’s fine with me, I don’t want to push them away.

I have to consider if I’m launching a product: How can I keep the attention of everybody else, you know, without kind of harrangig them all the time with sales announcements?

The Empire Kit thing just kept building and building, and it was going to be a really big product, so I asked: “How can I make it fun?” I heard about this Empire Builder Train that goes between Chicago and Portland, and I realized that would also be the day of my birthday, and all these things kept happening, so finally I said: “Well, let’s craft an interesting story and let’s make it fun.” As you said, let’s launch the product from the train. I did that with a friend of mine, another blogger, J.D. Roth.

So it really got people interested and I got fan mail from people who didn’t even want the product, who said: “I don’t even want to buy this, but I’m really enjoying the story.” I had just been in West Africa the week before, then in Europe, then I came to the States, went to Pittsburgh to give a talk, and then went to Chicago to get on the train, so people really liked the story. So I have to figure out the best way to do that because I can’t always launch a product from a train, of course. But it was a lot of fun.

TB: It was definitely something that I watched very closely. It was a great story.

CG: Thanks.

TB: Did you run into any problems? Any logistical concerns when you actually did that?

CG: I was really worried because you just never know, and this was my biggest product launch ever, and I’m going to be on a train, which obviously doesn’t have any Internet, so I tried to compensate as best as I could. I have a MiFi that I travel with and I got a second MiFi as a backup and had multiple laptops and cellphones.

That was the weekend the iPad came out, so J.D. Roth, the guy I was traveling with had an iPad, so we joked that we had our own little Apple store on there on the Amtrack train, which is kind of funny because Amtrack is pretty low-tech. So, actually it worked out pretty well. I would say that we had a couple of issues. We had some dead spots in a few places. But, overall, it worked out as well as I could have expected and as well as I could have hoped. So, overall I was really happy.

I’m trying to think if there had been any other problems. I run into little issues all the time, especially now with the business getting bigger and the blog readership going up, I definitely feel the imperative to always be online and I have to balance that with the travel I want to do and the time it takes to travel, and the fatigue. I also want to make sure that I have a good travel experience.

I mean, I try not to complain about these things because if I complain, I realize that I have a great life. It’s just so much fun. I’m thrilled that I’m able to do this. So I just try to take the problems as they come and work with them the best I can.

TB: Are there any tools that you’ve found useful to work with when you’re out on the road?

CG: Well, I pretty much do everything, my entire business and writing career, and whatever else it is, is managed entirely on my MacBook, just the one laptop. So, I’m moving towards more online services like a lot of people, just because that makes it easier.

I’m trying to think of some specific things that I use. I’m really pretty low-tech. Like I said, in the States, I like my MiFi so that I can have a hotspot anywhere, that is fun. It only works in the states for now, but I think they’re getting a global version at some point. Otherwise, I just try to keep it pretty simple and don’t use a lot of tools or high tech stuff.

TB: I’ve seen that you do a lot of videos and a lot of hosts from airports or while you’re in an airplane, or otherwise traveling. How do you make sure that you stay productive in all those different places while it’s probably pretty hard to maintain a routine across several kinds of… ?

CG: Yes, it is. And that work routine is good because I don’t have the same kind of routine that a lot of freelancers, or a lot of self-employed people have, where they like set aside certain hours to work on certain projects or certain activities, you know from 8am to 11am, or whatever it is.

I think that is helpful, it’s just not really possible for me with all of the travel and different timezones. So instead of a specific routine based on hours, I just try to instill the really strong habit or the discipline to continually create and continually work. Not in a workaholic way, but in a way that’s rewarding and meaningful.

So I just try to make sure I’m always writing, make sure I’m always creating something, whether it’s a product, or a blog post, or a book I’m writing. I’ve just found as a creative, and I think a lot of creatives can relate to this, if I don’t create for awhile, I’m going to start feeling bad. It’s kind of like exercise. Like once you get into a good exercise routine, then it kind feels bad to break that for more than a day or two.

I like what Seth Godin says. His definition of creativity is: “Creativity is an instinct to produce.” And I know that not everyone likes that statement, and people feel they have some different definitions and that’s fine, but I relate to that one. And I like that one and I just feel like every day, no matter where I am, I have to. I set a standard for myself. I try to write at least 500 words a day, usually about 1,000 words a day.

I try to clear most of my email. I do get behind. I try to clear most of my email every day, try to do my blog comments, do my Twitter stuff, my Facebook stuff, whatever.

So I guess it helps because I really like what I do. If I didn’t like what I did, it might be a lot harder. But for the most part, I really enjoy it.

TB: I know that you have a book coming out this fall and a book tour to go with it. Would you tell us a little about the book and maybe a little bit on how working on your book was different than working on your Unconventional Guides?

CG: Working on the book was much different. I had done a lot of writing before, but I had never written a full-length book. And I definitely did realize that it is a different animal, so I really respect authors that write books regularly. I think that I like the shorter format better, maybe the medium format, although I do plan on writing more books. So, that was fun.

I wrote that book last year and it’s coming out this September 7. It’s called The Art of Non-Conformity. And it’s a longer version of some of the manifestos I’ve written about how to do what you want, and also how to change the world and make the world a better place for others. So, I try to blend a high-level look at that with a practical look at how does that work, what does that look like.

When it comes out in September, I’m going to begin an Unconventional Book Tour, where I go to visit all 50 states and then in Janauary 2011, all 10 provinces in Canada, as well. I call it an Unconventional Book Tour because I want it to be not boring. I want it to actually be interactive and collectively organized through Twitter and Facebook.

And so, right now we’re recording this interview in June, so I’m just trying to figure out what it’s going to look like. It terrifies me actually because I’m a shy, introverted person and getting ready to do 63 meet-ups in a row, in all kinds of different cities, but I think that it’s going to be really fun also. I think that it’s going to be good. So, that’s my next project.

TB: How are you planning to handle your business while you’re focusing on the book?

CG: Well, a lot of the business, I don’t really use that word “passive” because I think that word is overused. There’s still things you have to do to run any business for the most part. But, having said that, a lot of the business does run itself. When I’m not actively developing a new product, or new projects, then it doesn’t take a great deal of time. I’ve scheduled it to where last fall I started thinking about what 2010 was going to look like.

I decided for the first half of the year, it was going to be a really intensive business development schedule. I’ve done that with the new products and I have one more coming out here. But, the second half of the year is going to focus mostly on this book and the book tour and so I’m actually not launching any other products for the rest of 2010, so basically the whole focus is the book and meeting the readers and gearing up for some other things in 2011. I guess I’m backing off a little bit on the business development for the rest of the year so I can focus on that.

TB: I only have one more question and that’s if you had to give a piece of advice to somebody who wanted to become an entrepreneur, who’s just starting out, what would you tell them a good starting point was?

CG: I would go back to that point we talked about: convergence. I would say it’s great to build a business around your passion, but that’s also a topic that’s oversimplified sometimes. I think when we talk about passion and passion in business, I always have mixed feelings because on the one hand I’m really excited about it because my business is oriented around my passion, and I know lots and lots of businesses that are very successful with that.

But at the same time, it can’t just be any passion. It has to be a passion that other people are also excited about and willing to spend money on.

TB: Can you tell our listeners where they can find you?

CG: Sure, I’m Chris Guillebeau at chrisguillebeau.com, and on Twitter.

TB: Thanks for talking with us today.

CG: Thanks, Thursday, I appreciate it.

Imagine: You’re crossing the street and you see the strangest, most exciting event of your life. In a flash of inspiration, you grab your notebook and jot down an idea for an article that will educate, inspire, and entertain readers of all ages. You’re sure it’s going to be a hit. But how do you convince an editor to publish it?

Novice writers may think that good ideas sell themselves. More experienced writers, however, know that all ideas have to be sold, and one way to do that is to write a great query letter.

Consider: For every query letter that an editor receives from you, he or she will receive hundreds from other writers. So there are many writers competing for limited space, and one very busy editor who wants to find the best 1%, which probably does not include query letters that begin with “Dear Sir/Madam.”

In fact, literary agent Stephen Barbara describes how his colleagues created a Query Letter Game involving lots of poorly written letters and copious amounts of alcohol. And while he is talking about query letters for literary works, the same concepts can be applied to queries for print and web periodicals.

Space in publications is limited and further categorized into thematic topics and categories that you may not write about. I, for example, enjoy writing about health and nutrition, but not cooking, which means I can target just about any parenting, general, health, and wellness publication, minus the cooking sections.

And every writer, myself included, is going to have more misses than hits. To balance this ratio of limited space versus articles published, it’s important to start at the beginning: submit a query letter that captivates, beguiles, and converts even the most harried editor into a believer.

Writing query letters

Think about writing a query letter as a project that’s as important as writing the article. And just as you have learn how to write an article and the criteria that make a good article, you have to learn how to write a query letter and the criteria it must follow.

General tips

• Ensure the query letter is targeted to the right publisher at a current address (email or snail mail).
• Address it to the editor by name (which is available on the publication’s masthead, website, or by calling them).
• Keep your opening salutations formal. “Hello Joe” will not work unless Joe is a good buddy of yours.
• Include your name and contact details at the bottom of the letter.
• Keep the tone professional at all times, and forget any notions of being overly personal or humorous.
• For snail mail:
  • Use a standard font and size on good quality (at least 20-lb. bond) white paper.
  • Include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for a reply.
  • Include copies (not originals) or published clips.
• Keep in mind that publications do differ in how they like to receive query letters (many only accept emails) so do some research using Writer’s Market before you send yours off.

Pitfalls to avoid

• Don’t use a sales pitch to sell your article. Instead rely on the idea, facts, and figures to do their job.
• Don’t keep salient points to yourself as a “surprise.” This is the time to pull out all the stops. If you have a shocking fact or a quote that rocks, use it to seal the deal.
• Don’t forget to check and double-check grammar and spelling. Instead of relying on a spell check tool, print out the letter and get someone to edit it for you.
• Don’t ramble. Keep your query letter short and to the point. Most professional writers suggest sticking to one page.

Letter structure

Your letter should be divided into a few paragraphs including an opening introduction with a “hook,” the body, credentials, and a closing paragraph.

Opening

The opening paragraph should grab the editor’s attention from the first line. This line in fact is often what makes or breaks a sale. It demonstrates not only that you can write well, but that you have something newsworthy to sell. If you are planning on using a personal anecdote to begin a query letter, ensure the publication in question accepts first person articles.

Avoid starting with an introduction (“Hi, my name is…”), flattery (“I’m a regular subscriber…”), self importance (“I know my article will be perfect for your magazine”), or sympathy (“Even though I’ve never been published before…”).

Remember, editors aren’t looking for great writers to pay; they’re looking for great articles to publish.

Body

Once you’ve got the editor’s attention, move on to the body. This is where you use a soft-sell approach to explain what it is you’re offering, or what your idea is all about. At this point, you may offer a tentative working title for your article, keeping in mind that editors do often like to change them.

Your “body” is usually two to four paragraphs and can include possible interviews you’ll be conducting, research study statistics you’ll incorporate, and any other points of interest your article will feature. Use bullet points if you feel it will read better.

Credentials

The last to final paragraph talks about your credentials. This is where you can afford to brag a little if you have relevant expertise, or sell your other strong features such as teaching experience, academic training, professional certification, etc.

Closing

And finally, close with an appropriate sentence or two, thank the editors for their time, and offer a deadline by which you can deliver.

Before you send your query letter, don’t forget to review this quick checklist:

• Have I read the publication?
• Have I double-checked its guidelines?
• Am I following the correct submission method?
• Have I included my contact details, in particular a phone number and email address?
• Have I spell-checked and edited it so that it reads clearly?
• Can I add further credentials to help sell the piece or myself?
• If I’m mailing it, have I included a SASE and copies of my published clips?

Good luck, and I look forward to seeing your published article soon!

Here are a few characteristics of a strong domain name.

1. Unique

Check out your competitors’ websites and make sure that your own domain name stands out from the crowd. It’s hard to promote your own unique products and services if your website name is similar to everyone else’s.

2. Easy to spell

The easier it is to spell your URL, the easier it will be for people to find your new business. Ever found yourself on a different website from the one that you thought you were visiting? It’s easy to make a mistake when visiting a new website for the first time. After all, domain names may only be a letter or two apart in spelling.

3. Easy to remember

Choose a domain name that people find easy to remember. Test your intended domain name on a friend or two to gauge their response. Can they still remember your website the next day?

4. Pronounceable

Does your domain name roll off the tongue easily? Choose names that are easy to pronounce and can stand alone as a separate word.

5. Short

The ideal length for a domain name is 10 characters or less (e.g., Google, Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube). If your domain name is longer, don’t sweat it. Anything under 20 characters is still pretty good.

Branding

Consider how well your domain name fits with your business brand. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What does this domain name say about my business to my prospective customers?
• Does it align well with the tone, voice, and tagline of my business?
• Will this domain name still be relevant if I decide to grow my business and expand my services?

Dot com? org? net? tv?

Select a .com name if possible because it signifies a top-level domain address that has commercial intent. If you really can’t find a suitable .com name, choose a .org or a .net version instead.

If you are doing business locally or within a set geographic area, you might want to choose a country-specific domain name like .uk.

I have a preference for purchasing .com addresses over .org or .net. Similar to the problem identified with misspellings, people may end up on the wrong website if they can’t remember whether your address ends in .org or .net.

Keywords

For SEO purposes, it’s good practice to incorporate relevant keywords within the domain name for your business. I like to use both the Google AdWords Keyword Tool and Market Samurai to find suitable keywords to include in my domain name.

Pre-owned or new?

Just like a nicely aged wine, purchasing an “aged” domain can have distinct advantages over buying a new domain. Aged domains are already established and have had more time to get some good link juice with the search engines. You can trawl auction sites to find a suitable domain name, or try searching by entering a description of your “market” plus “domain for sale.” You might just snare a good one for a song.

More resources

I like using the following tools for the domain name research and buying process:

Domain name generators

A good method for generating ideas for domain names is to add a prefix or suffix to your keyword. This method generates hundreds of combinations of potential names that you can consider.

Experiment with the following domain name generators:

• NameBoy generates domain names based on entering primary and secondary keywords.
• Sedo connects buyers (who need a domain name) to sellers.
• NameStation generates domain words based on random phonetic names, suffixes and prefixes, and permutations.

Trademark research

Before purchasing your domain name, check to see whether it has any potential trademark issues.

• Tess – If you have a US business, visit the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s website and search their trademarks directory Tess.
• Likewise, for non-US based businesses, contact your local Government Intellectual Property or Trademarks Office to carry out a trademarks search.

Buying domain names

• Namecheap is great for registering your domain name at a price that won’t break the bank.

Discount coupons

• RetailMeNot will help you find a coupon code to use if you are ready to purchase your domain name.

Domain tools

• DomainTools is a handy tool to research information on your proposed aged domain. Don’t forget to carry out due diligence on your proposed purchase to find out its age, traffic statistics, page rank, and number of backlinks.
• Domain Samurai is a recently released tool from Noble Samurai that takes the pain out of finding a good domain name.

Summary

The selection of your domain name is an important step in launching your new business. With your brand and domain name selected, you are getting close to actually bringing your business site online.

Vendr, a new set of e-commerce tools from Boxador, is aiming to become the alternative. It offers a store that will work with an existing website, without requiring a knowledge of HTML or CSS. But does it deliver?

A store in only 15 minutes?

Vendr promises that, using its tools, you can have a store added to your existing website in less than fifteen minutes. It seems like that fifteen minutes starts when you enter your name and password to create a new account. Once I’d actually logged in and started setting up a store, it actually only took me about eight minutes to set up a store and add the widget to a website.

The interface is incredibly easy to follow. With a new store, you add a few design elements, like a background and a logo. The basic design is very clean, which is important because the actual format of the store itself is limited to one layout. However, your background options are fairly extensive. Vendr lets you browse through images from Flickr’s Creative Commons pool to find an attractive image that matches the feel of your website.

Features and options

Adding products is an equally simple process. You fill out a basic form about your product, answering questions about price, tax, and shipping. Then you add an image (or a few). Depending on your product, you can add options for a buyer to select from. If you use an upgraded account, you can also offer coupons, track inventory, and allow buyers to download a file after purchase.

The basic store options are simple to figure out. You can configure different payment accounts, from the particularly common PayPal to a merchant account, if you use one. You can create default shipping rates and even collect taxes on a region-by-region basis. And, if needs be, you can create custom pages within your store for information like privacy policies.

Once your store and products are fully configured, you can add it to a blog or another website with a code snippet that must be added into the HTML of your website. Interestingly, that code doesn’t actually add a page to your website. Instead, you’ll see a red tab in the top right corner that says “Store.” Click on that and you’ll see your store hovering over your existing website. Visitors can also visit your store directly on Vendr’s website; you’re automatically assigned “yourstore.vendr.com” during the account set-up process.

How much does it cost?

To use Vendr to operate a store on your website, you have to chose between four different plans, ranging in price between free and $29.95 per month. The different plans offer you the ability to manage more products, as well as additional features at each level. While the free plan offers you the ability to manage 5 products along with setting up store buttons and widgets, the most expensive plan lets you handle 250 products with features like an affiliate program manager, inventory tracking, and digital download support.

The pricing doesn’t seem too out of line with other e-commerce tools on a similar level. E-Junkie, a popular shopping cart and affiliate management tool, starts at $5 per month for managing 10 products.

The verdict

The cost of using Vendr, along with the way the tools are set up, makes it clear that this is a good option for someone relatively new to selling products online. If you’ve got a product that sells very well, or you need to do something unusual with your storefront, Vendr may be a less useful fit. The design options for a store through the site are limited, and if you want to keep visitors on your site while still allowing them to shop, that red button in the corner had better fit your design plans. You can make some changes — there are five different label options beyond “Store” and you can move it to the left side of the page — but your options are limited.

The biggest benefit of Vendr, in the end, is that you can get a store up and operational in a matter of minutes. If you need a shopping cart fast, you can have it ready to go with Vendr far faster than if you’re using other e-commerce tools.

Vendr: http://www.vendr.com/

This isn’t your typical Who’s-Who list of the most popular web entrepreneurs. We wanted to create a list of people who would inspire you and, in many cases, assist you with your dreams of online entrepreneurship.

There are thousands of people operating many sorts of online businesses around the world, but we couldn’t tell you about them all. So we’ve narrowed it down to fifty.

The “hubs”

These are the thought leaders in their niche. They have succeeded in their netsetting goals and are now helping the next generation of bloggers succeed. Watch the hub leaders and those they choose to mentor.

1. Elizabeth Potts Weinstein

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein

Elizabeth inspires and empowers entrepreneurs to live their truth in her blog ElizabethPW.com. She has built her brand around teaching others to create a business that is a natural expression of who they are. Netsetters can learn more by participating in her weekly Twitter chats and embarking on their own “live your truth” adventure.

2. Sonia Simone

Remarkable Communication

Sonia Simone is a copywriter who created her netsetting business around helping people who hate marketing to promote themselves. She has created a community of remarkables at the Remarkable Marketing Blueprint and is the senior editor at Copyblogger.

3. Chris Guillebeau

The Art of Non-Conformity

Chris Guillebeau has created a movement around his non-conformist lifestyle. His netsetter business revolves around his unconventional guides, which he has started to co-create with other netsetters. He has inspired a new generation of business owners to consider how they can change the world in unconventional ways.

4. Johnny B Truant

Johnny B Truant

Johnny B truant makes five figures a month from a website that he admits is unprofessional. He has leveraged traffic from high profile entrepreneurial sites to create a business that supports other businesses to get online. He specializes in personality-based marketing and affordable blog setups, and has shown how your netsetter business can evolve as you figure out your target audience and clients.

5. Adam Baker

Man Vs. Debt

Adam Baker has created a netsetter business around his blog, Man Vs. Debt. He focuses on the intersection between personal finance, lifestyle design, and travel, and demonstrates how to tastefully monetize your community. He has done so much for the personal finance community and I credit him for inspiring the next generation of personal finance writers.

6. Danielle Laporte

White Hot Truth

Danielle empowers entrepreneurs to fire up their business at White Hot Truth. She is a strategic and intuitive business advisor who has inspired a new generation of netsetters to write authentically and passionately. You can learn so much by seeing how she turns everything on her site into a digital experience.

7. Jonathan Fields

Jonathan Fields

Jonathan Fields is a serial-entrepreneur-turned-career-renegade. He created multiple offline businesses in the health industry before selling them to create a boutique marketing group. That has evolved into Jonathan’s current business, which incorporates his book, Tribal Author project, and small business marketing activities.

8. Pat Flynn

Smart Passive Income

Pat Flynn has become quite prominent in the netsetter niche in 2010. He originally made the bulk of his income selling his ebook guiding people through the leeds exam but has since moved to iPhone applications and affiliate income. His success lies in his transparency and willingness to admit the hard work and patience required to consistently earn smart, passive income. You can watch his progress via his monthly income reports.

9. Scott Stratten

UnMarketing

Scott Stratten has become a leading advocate of what he calls “Un-Marketing.” He has successfully started bridging the divide between corporate and social marketing, and in doing so become highly influential. His strength lies in his experience and understanding of both worlds. His first book is due for release in the fall.

10. Dave Navarro

The Launch Coach

Dave Navarro is a product launch coach who has helped industry leaders earn five and six figures from their products without using sleazy marketing tactics. His workshops and blog helps aspiring netsetters get their products released and to attract loyal, repeat buyers. You can learn more from his free workbooks.

The support team

These are the people you see supporting many of the industry’s elite. They are netsetters themselves and are available to help you improve your online presence and simplify your worklife.

11. Naomi Niles

Intuitive Designs

Naomi Niles has co-owned and worked in online businesses since 2001. She currently runs Intuitive Designs, a small studio that specializes in delivering uncomplicated and straightforward websites. She can help you translate your passion for business into a site that meets your netsetting goals.

12. Lisa Morosky

VA For Bloggers

Lisa Morosky is the virtual assistant for bloggers. She has created her netsetter business by supporting fellow bloggers, such as David Risley and Nathan Hangen, and has a range of services to help online business owners. You can hire her for a free WordPress install, consulting, or her retainer packages.

13. Amy Harrison

Harrison Amy

Amy Harrison is a copywriter who provides content for business entrepreneurs and business owners. She is very hardworking and writes great copy that will grab your audience’s attention. Netsetters can hire her to help with sales pages, blog content, and website copy.

14. Catherine Caine

Be Awesome Online

Catherine Caine helps delightful weirdos be awesome online. She was able to leverage the success of her blog to quit her day job, launch a product, and develop a strong community around her brand. Netsetters can visit her site to learn how to build sites that run on emotions, not technology.

15. Rachael Acklin

The Caffeinated Elf

Rachael is a creative entrepreneur who offers designing, hosting, and coaching services. She has  transformed her business into a design studio that specializes in WordPress and Thesis. Aspiring netsetters can take advantage of her affordable design services.

16. Dawn Martinello

Monday Morning VA

Dawn Martinello runs a hybrid multi-VA business at Monday Morning VA. She built her netsetting business by leveraging a team of high-level professionals to help business owners with their online and offline tasks. You can learn a lot by observing her business model or by working with her to enhance your online visibility.

17. Marissa Bracke

Can-Do-Ology

Marissa is a can-do-ologist who helps creative entrepreneurs build structures and systems around their projects so they can be more efficient. This is a fascinating example of a netsetter business because she combines consultancy, services, and outsourcing to her team in a solution tailored to her clients’ needs. She has created her business by helping others improve theirs.

18. Megan Morris

Idea Schema

Megan Morris is a professional catalyst who turned her popular blog into a mini network of offerings. She offers multiple services at IdeaSchema solutions, including the popular creative team in a box. She aspires to make her business even more remarkable by providing as much information and hands-on assistance as possible without needing reciprocation.

19. Kathleen Jaffe

Biznicillin

Kathleen Jaffe  cures and prevents Business Transmitted Diseases (BTDs). She helps freelancers, entrepreneurs and  small business owners become more efficient during the unsexy middle phase between launching and making a profit. She can help you take the tools that big businesses created and use them to improve your own business.

20. Kelly Diels

Cleavage

Kelly Diels writes about sex, money, and meaning at Cleavage. She gives great copy and has built a reputation writing copy with an engaging and human voice. Netsetters can hire her or just watch how she is leveraging her brand to create massive success.

Resources

A good netsetter knows the tools at their disposal on their adventure. These sites are great resources to build up your toolbox.

21. Srinivas Rao

BlogcastFM

Srinivas Rao is the host and co-founder of BlogcastFM: The podcast for bloggers. He interviews A-Listers, rising stars, and interesting people to provide a balanced mix of inside stories and immediate actional tips to improve your blog. You can subscribe to the podcast to receive 3 interviews each week or nominate yourself to be interviewed.

22. Thom Chambers

In Treehouses

Thom Chambers is the person behind In Treehouses, a free online magazine that shows you how to build valuable and profitable niche communities. The magazine can teach you both how to create a vibrant community AND monetize that community by providing members with genuine value. You can subscribe to receive each monthly issue or offer to contribute.

23. Stanford Smith

Pushing Social

Stanford Smith runs Pushing Social. He writes about blog strategies that create engaged and loyal communities, and gives you tips on uncovering, celebrating, and profiting from your authenticity. Netsetters can join the community to learn how to turn their brand into a superstar.

24. Kelly Kingman

Sticky Ebooks

Kelly Kingman helps you create ridiculously creative ebooks. She shot to fame with the launch of The Sticky Ebook Formula and is currently focusing on empowering others to create their first paid information product. Netsetters can hire her, buy her products to create your own sticky ebooks, or read her blog.

25. Paul Cunningham

Blogging Teacher

Paul Cunningham has been building websites since 1999. He is a talented writer and is very knowledgeable about WordPress. He has become a regular contributor to the blogger community, most notably on the Problogger.com forums where he serves as a moderator. He is on the cusp of success and has developed a comprehensive resource at Blogging Teacher.

26. Thursday Bram

Thursday Bram

Thursday runs a freelance location-independent business. She writes regularly for a number of Envato properties and specializes in helping freelancers understand the business of their craft. She has created additional income streams with her consultant services and information products.

27. Ali Hale

Aliventures

Ali Hale writes at Aliventures. She is a paid staff writer who supports several large blogs and she has turned that experience into a self-study course. She has also inspired a new generation of netsetters to become paid bloggers and to explore their own mini business plans.

28. Mars Dorian

Mars Dorian

Mars Dorian helps netsetters spread their digital influence. He has demonstrated his expertise and become a prominent fixture in the new wave of blogging success stories. He can help you improve your online presence to make the world a more creative place.

29. Heather Allard

The Mogul Mum

Heather Allard helps mom entrepreneurs live and work happier, healthier, smarter, and wealthier. She has revamped her personal blog into a resource site for other moms running businesses. She has proven how you can make your personal blog into a resource that serves a significantly larger community.

30. Reese Spykerman

Design By Reese

Reese shows that you don’t need an elaborate web presence to build a successful netsetter business. She has accumulated an impressive portfolio of clients for her design and branding services. You can follow her work at Design by Reese or on twitter.

The entrepreneurs

These are the people who are enjoying huge success outside of the make-money-online niche. They can teach you how to apply outside knowledge to empower others to become digital entrepreneurs.

31. Andy Hayes

That Travel Guy

Andy has built a network of businesses connecting people in the world of travel. He is a travel entrepreneur who has leveraged his social media success to create a brand that targets all key markets in his niche. Andy demonstrates that you can create a compelling netsetter business around your passion.

32. Clare Lancaster

Women in Business

Clare Lancaster is probably most famously known for creating Women In Business, which is a niche community that is focused on supporting Australian business women. She has leveraged her profile to launch a consultancy and several information products.

33. Yvonne Adele

Ideas Culture

Yvonne Adele is the founder of the site Ideas Culture. She works with a team of ideas agents from all around the world to produce great new ideas overnight, literally while you are sleeping. She demonstrates how you can leverage other netsetters to expand your business.

34. Lee Stranahan

Lee Stranahan

Lee Stranahan is an American writer, filmmaker, photographer, multimedia artist, and teacher. He has built a very exciting type of netsetter business around helping his fellow creatives learn how to question the rules and to take control of their creative destiny in managing their own careers.

35. Alexis Neely

Lawyer You Love

Alexis Neely is the lawyer you love. She works with entrepreneurial business clients. She has built several six- and seven-figure businesses and created a number of information products and courses. She demonstrates how you can build a netsetter business that compliments your offline business(es).

36. Melani Ward

The Mojo Blog

Melani Ward helps creative and driven people find their mojo through spirit, sport, and service. She runs The Mojo Retreat for spiritually minded and highly motivated women, Good Fun Marketing for entrepreneurs who hate marketing, and worked with Chris Garrett on the Mojo Marketing Action Plan. She teaches you how to build an online presence focused around your core strengths.

37. Nathan Hangen

Nathan Hangen

Nathan helps people build digital empires. He has developed a solid assortment of web properties, which includes the Beyond Blogging Project, Blogger Beats, and his information products. His goal is to continue to grow his netsetter business and help others do the same.

38. Pamela Slim

Escape from Cubicle Nation

Pamela Slim is a coach who helps entrepreneurs break away and start their own business. Not only does she help netsetters realize their dreams, she’s a great example of the netsetter philosophy herself. She helps people escape the confines of the corporate world with her book, and blog, Escape from Cubicle Nation.

39. Erica Douglass

Erica.biz

Erica Douglass has a solid background in web entrepreneurship. She sold her web hosting company for over a million dollars at age 26 and turned her efforts into teaching others through her blog. She has successfully leveraged her site to reach her goal of five figures per month. She covers topics that are normally taboo for entrepreneurs who blog, such as outsourcing, and is a fascinating read for any aspiring netsetter.

40. Josh Hanagarne

Worlds Strongest Librarian

Josh Hanagarne has built his business around being a nerdy librarian with Tourettes syndrome. His unreserved writing style and humility have helped him avoid the limitations of being confined to one niche. His work has gotten the attention of Seth Godin’s literary agent.

Lifestyle

These people are living the netsetter lifestyle. They are challenging authority by building businesses around their passion and are focusing on teaching their readers how to do the same.

41. Henri Junttila

Wake up Cloud

Henri blogs about the art of living a passionate life at Wake Up Cloud. He has raised awareness of his business through his guest posting and article marketing efforts and was able to rapidly increase his readership. He has shown how to monetize a lifestyle design blog via services and paid products.

42. Corbett Barr

Think Traffic

Corbett Barr has been a netsetter since 2003 when he created his first custom search engine. He has created several web-based projects including Free Pursuits, a lifestyle design site that attracts over 100k monthly visitors. He n0w provides audience-building advice for startups, lifestyle businesses, and side jobs at Think Traffic.

43. Everett Bogue

Far Beyond The Stars

Everett quit his job at The New York Times to pursue a minimalist, location-independent life. He empowers his readers to simplify their lives and pursue a minimalist business. He is a fascinating example of someone who is enjoying massive success by going against the typical blogging and monetization conventions.

44. Jonathan Mead

Illuminated Mind

Jonathan Mead empowers people to reclaim their freedom and live on their own terms at his blog Illuminated Mind. He has created a netsetter business helping people escape the mundane and get paid for being himself. You can learn more by stealing his free workbook.

45. Karol Gajda

Ridiculously Extraoridinary

Karol has set the goal to help 100 people achieve ridiculously extraordinary freedom. He escaped his traditional life with the house and car to travel the world. He focuses on inspiring people to create their own freedom business, which will allow them to live anywhere.

46. Fabeku

Sankofa Song

Fabaku has built a successful online business around sound healing. His site is a fantastic example of how you can develop a strong fan base via building your business around your personal brand. By breaking the conventions of his niche, he has gained exposure to a whole new audience, many of whom are willing to spread his message thanks to his vibrant social media presence.

47. Jeffrey Tang

The Art of Great Things

Jeffrey recently left his regular day job to pursue his blogging career at The Art of Great Things. He got the entrepreneurial bug while managing the content division of a start-up business. His site shows how you can combine passion and simplicity to draw new readers into your blog.

48. Fabian Kruse

The Friendly Anarchist

Fabian Kruse is a location-independent writer who blogs at the Friendly Anarchist. He writes about creative lifestyle, (un)productively pursuing a life full of arts, deliberate dilettantism, and the combination of idleness and activity. He can help netsetters reject unfriendly domination and pursue their own dreams and passions.

49. Sharon Hurley Hall

Sharon Hurley Hall

Sharon is a skilled freelancer who has created a location-independent business around her core strengths as a writer and blogger. She regularly contributes to a number of leading blogs and has built up a solid reputation in the industry.You can learn more about how she built her successful freelancing business at Get Paid To Write Online.

50. Annabel Candy

Get In The Hot Spot

Annabel Candy’s mission is to help people achieve their dream lifestyle, their  ”hot spot,” through entrepreneurship. She provides netsetters with help to realize their dreams, whatever they are, and appeals to a broad interest base through her blog.

On the other hand, no matter how well you position your AdSense units, if your content is not well-targeted, no placement can compensate for this. If your content is not optimized for the right keywords, or if it is very diverse and the ads you get are a mixture of many niches (e.g., dating, health, money, computers), then your click through rate (CTR) will be low. We’ll assume that your pages are optimized properly and don’t rank equally well for both “dating advice” and “cash advance Nevada” or “cheap credit cards” for instance, because if they are like that, no AdSense positioning will help to get a decent CTR and generate money from your site.

Before we discuss the best places to put AdSense ads on a page, there is one more thing that needs mentioning. We discuss the Top 5 places for AdSense ads but this doesn’t mean you have to put 5 AdSense units on a page. Beware! As per the terms of service of Google AdSense, you can’t place more than 3 ad units on a page, or you risk your AdSense account being terminated.

This is why you need to pick only 3 out of these 5 places and see which of them work for you. The fact that these 5 places generally work, doesn’t mean that they will automatically work for you as well. You need to test where AdSense ads convert best for you and put them there. Here are the 5 places where your AdSense ads stand a higher chance of being noticed and clicked:

Top 5 Positions for AdSense Units

1. On the left, under the menu and above the fold

If the menu of your site is in the top left corner, the space right under it is a top location for AdSense ads. When visitors access the menu to navigate the site, they will notice the ads. If the ads are well-targeted, the chance to be clicked is very high.

A vertical bar (120×600 or 160×600) is the best AdSense unit you can put under the menu. Of all the 5 places listed here, this place is the best because even the visitors who visit only the homepage and leave your site right after they land on it will be exposed to the ads, and therefore might be tempted to click an ad before they leave.

2. Inline before the first paragraph

Another place where AdSense units stand a high chance to be noticed is in the very beginning of an article. When a visitor has come to the page with the article itself and there is a block of relevant AdSense ads right before the first paragraph, this also increases the chance for the ads to be noticed and respectively clicked. Depending on the layout of your site, the options you have are one of the square units or a half vertical banner (if your text columns are narrow and even the smallest square doesn’t fit).

3. Right under the article title

The article title is usually in a larger font and/or alternative color to be more noticeable. When relevant ads are put right under the article title – i.e. between the title and the first paragraph – they are also more noticeable. For many sites, AdSense units under the article title don’t work as nicely as the inline units right before the first paragraph, but you need to see how it is for you.

It is true that, with AdSense units between the title and the first paragraph or inline before the first paragraph, you might lose the visitors who click on the ads because when they click an ad, most likely they will leave your site before they have read your article. But if a click is worth it, then you can’t complain. If the visitors really liked your site, they will come back again, right?

4. Under/Next to an image

Images draw attention and this is why ads near an image are also easier to spot. However, keep in mind that you need to use a high quality still image, not an animation because animations smell like ads and visitors just skip them. Still, for many web masters AdSense units near an image don’t work, so you need to experiment to see if this works for you or not.

5. Right under the last paragraph

Finally, one more place where AdSense units have a decent chance to be noticed is a very surprising one – under the last paragraph of your article. Usually this position is way below the fold, but it does work. Why? Because when people have finished reading your article and they are looking for something to read next, a block of targeted AdSense ads stands a good chance of being noticed (and clicked). Vertical banners work best here and sometimes even image ads manage to attract attention.

Summary

These 5 places have proven successful for many webmasters. Of course, CTR depends on many more factors than the mere positioning but experience shows that there are places where even the best ad has little to no chance of being noticed. These places include the lower left corner, the right sidebar (especially under the fold), and obviously the bottom of the page (the footer) because readers generally ignore these areas completely and ads there aren’t noticed. This is why you should ignore these places and put your AdSense ads in the Top 5 places instead.

These basic principles of AdSense placement have been consistent for years, and with a little work they should help you too.