Blogger vs Wordpress

The Great Blog Debate:

Blogger VS. Self Hosted Platforms

Welcome back!

Last time you set up your domain name and hosting. Now it’s time to set up your blog. If you’ve done any research on blogs before, you probably already know there are a lot of choices.

So let’s go through some of your options to find out which one is the best…

Self-Hosted or a Third-Party Blog?

Since I’ve already asked you to buy a domain name and hosting, it’s pretty clear that you’re going to set up a “self hosted” blog.

Nonetheless, let me share with you why this is important…

You’ve no doubt seen some of the third-party blog solutions. One of the most popular is Google’s Blogger.com. There are also other solutions like LiveJournal.com, WordPress.com and a whole host of others.

All you have to do is register an account on these sites, choose a blog name… and you can be blogging in a matter of minutes. Most of these platforms are very user-friendly, meaning you don’t need to know a lick about scripts or other technical stuff in order to be up and blogging fast.

So why not use a third-party solution? Here’s why:

û  No commercial content. Some of these sites flat-out prohibit commercial content. And since you’re going to turn your blog into a money-maker, a non-commercial blog isn’t an option for you.

û  The site could disappear tomorrow. When you entrust your content – even your income – to a third party, you’re rolling the dice. The company could go bankrupt. They could sell to another company who changes the rules. Point is, your blog could disappear in an instant.

û  You have no control over your content. Some third-party blog solutions paste their ads on your site. Some have very strict rules about what you can and cannot write about or what you can link to (which goes back to the commercial content issue again). And all of these sites can just arbitrarily pull your content or change the rules… and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Obviously, a self-hosted solution is best to retain control over your content. But which blog platform should you choose? There are plenty of platforms – just search for “blog script” (in hostscripts.com and Google) to see what I mean. There are also quite a few popular platforms, including Moveable Type, TypePad and WordPress.

Here’s what I suggest: WordPress.org. That’s because WordPress (WP) is frequently updated, there are lots of design options, there are plenty of plug-ins, there’s user-provided support, and it’s highly functional, flexible and customizable.

Today’s task: Go to WordPress.org and familiarize yourself with WP’s main features and functions.

Tomorrow you’ll install the blog, so stay tuned!

As you know, the model you’re using to make money with your blog is to promote affiliate links on your blog.

However, many beginning affiliate marketers make the mistake of choosing a product or two and then building a blog around that product. Then they have to figure out to whom they should sell the product.

Problem is, there may not be a demand for the product. Or there may not be an easily reachable niche market. Or perhaps it’s a “one hit wonder,” where you can get people to purchase this one product – but you can’t figure out what else to sell to them.

So here’s what you do instead: Find a hungry market first. And once you’ve determined that a market exists – and these folks are already buying products and services – then you can figure out what to sell them. (Usually, this means you sell them what they’re already buying).

Over this lesson and the next two you’ll discover how to find and then choose a niche. Read on…

è How to Find a Niche

Ask around about how to find a niche, and some people will tell you to follow your passions. Others will tell you to follow the money.

Here’s an idea: Start with your passions… but then find out if they’re profitable.

That way you’re sure to make money, yet you’re also working in a niche which interests you.

So, the first step is to uncover a niche. Let’s start by brainstorming. Answer the following questions. Don’t limit yourself to just one answer per question. Indeed, you should list as many answers as possible for each question.

Brainstorming a Niche

• What are your favorite topics of conversation?

• What was your favorite topic in school?

• What job do you work now?

• What job do you wish you had?

• What kinds of sites do you visit regularly and/or have bookmarked on your computer?

• What kinds of TV shows/channels do you like to watch?

• What types of magazines do you subscribe to?
• What are your hobbies?

• What do you spend your expendable income on?

• If you had $1000 to spend right now to spend on yourself, just for fun – what would you do with it?

• What are your favorite books?

• If you could take three college courses, what would they be?

• What topics do you know a lot about?

• What topics do your friends ask you about?

• What type of events do you like to attend?

• List your other interests:

Now let’s work on whittling this list down by doing some market research.

In other words, you’re about to discover which of your potential niches is profitable – and which ones you should discard. Read on…

How to Tell if a Niche is Profitable

Sometimes a marketer finds niches that seem to have very few other marketers actively working in the niche. And the first thing the market sees is dollar signs, as he believes he found an “untapped” or “unexploited” niche.

Maybe you’ll have the same experience and the same thoughts.

If this happens to you, however, consider this: Maybe the niche really isn’t “untapped.” Instead, perhaps the reason why there aren’t other marketers taking advantage of it is because there isn’t any money in the niche.

When you become a more experienced marketer, you’ll be better able to tell if a niche is untapped or merely unprofitable.

For now, however, I suggest that you look for niches with plenty of marketers in them. That’s because a lot of marketers selling a lot of different kinds of products generally points towards a profitable niche.

Here then are some ways to determine if a niche is profitable…

a) Check Marketplaces

If you’d like to sell information products (i.e., ebooks), then check out the Clickbank.com marketplace. Simply go to www.clickbank.com/marketplace. Then you can use the search function at the top of your screen (“Find Products”) to uncover niche products.

All you need to do is enter your broad keywords as a search term.

Example: Gardening, dog training, weight loss, quilting, horses… and so on.

For the moment, you just want to see if there’s an interest in the broad market (and then you can narrow it down to a tighter niche later, based on what you uncover during all of this research).

Now look at the results. Typically, the products near the top of the results are the more popular products. So if you see several products on the same topic at that top of the search results, that’s a very good sign – it shows there is some demand, and that there’s a market buying the products.

Another marketplace you can visit is Amazon.com. This goes for whether you’re selling info products or physical products. Again, just enter your main keywords. Those products appearing at the top tend to be the best sellers. If you see a lot of products, then consider it a good sign.

Last time you started learning about the different ways you can research a market to see if it’s profitable.

Let’s pick up where we left off…

b) Search Google

This is easy – simple enter your broad keywords into Google (such as “bodybuilding” or “motor homes”) and see what comes up. You’re looking for two things:

1. 1.   The organic results. These are the regular search engine results. Pay attention to the top sites (those on the first page).

What are these sites selling? If many of the top sites are directly selling products or services – or if they carry ads for products and services – that’s a good sign. And if they’re selling similar items, that’s a clue about which particular kinds of products are popular.

Secondly, look at the competition. Are there plenty of sites in the results? Again, that’s generally a good sign, because it shows some demand.

1. 2.   The sponsored results. You also want to look at the paid ads that appear at the top, bottom and along the sides of the results. If there are only a couple ads, be worried. But if all the ad slots are taken, that’s good – because marketers don’t spend money advertising if there are no willing buyers.

c) Do a Keyword Search

Next, check out a keyword tool like WordTracker.com, MarketSamurai.com or your favorite tool. Enter your broad keywords. Do you see a lot of results? Do you see evidence that people are looking to buy?

Example: You might see searches for product names (e.g., [product name] review).

If you discover a lot of searches and you also notice that some of them are from buyers, that’s a good sign.

Example: A search like “buy [product name]” is a clear indication that the searcher is a real prospect rather than a tire-kicker.

d) Check Offline Publications

Now look at offline publications related to your market. For starters, are there magazines devoted just to your market?

Example: If you’re interested in dog training, then you’d quickly notice several dog-related magazines (like Dog Fancy).

That alone is a good sign. But you also want to browse through these magazines and see what type of paid advertising appears in the publication. This will give you a clue about what’s hot in that market right now.

e) Keep an Eye Out for Other Paid Advertising

Listen to the radio and watch TV. Are there any channels or stations related to your market? If not, can you find any specific TV programs related to your market?

Example: Take the example of dog-training again: Just a quick look across a variety of channels (including Animal Planet) reveals several dog-training programs, just as Cesar Milan’s “Dog Whisperer” program.

And if you watch the commercials, you’ll see plenty of paid advertisements for paid products. Both the show and the commercials indicate there is a demand for products in the market.

f) Look for Offline Marketplaces

Finally, you can look to offline marketplaces to see if there is a demand. You can look for retail shops or entire sections in big stores devoted to your market.

You should also look for offline events, like trade shows, conferences and workshops in your market.

Once you do all the research described in this lesson and the last, it will quickly become clear which of your potential markets have the most profit potential. If you have a couple that seem to be equal, then just choose the market you think you’d enjoy the most.