For these people the fears and difficulty they have is the technical stuff: putting up their website, search engine optimization, or compiling and submitting their mobile app to the app store.

That is why so many of the beginner guides in the Internet marketing space are geared towards non technical people.

For me, the problem was not learning how to put up a website or write code – I’ve done both pretty well for about 10 years.

My problem has been what to do before and after your product is built – things like customer validation or marketing.

Because it is relatively easy for me to build something – a website, an app, an e-commerce site, whatever, I was quick to “fail fast” as the old startup proverb goes, and even quicker to move on to the next shiny object.

While we are on the subject, the suggestion to fail fast is bad advice.  Instead of failing fast, your goal should try to “learn faster than everyone else” as Eric Ries suggests.

I was given the curse of knowledge when it came to the internet.  But to make money online you need to understand a lot more than just how to put up a WordPress blog or how to write code.  In fact, I’ve seen many people better off BECAUSE they don’t know technology.

These people instead focus on the PROBLEM before they figure out a SOLUTION.

But anyone with this “curse” finds it difficult to keep an open mind and learn new things because they already feel that know it.

Many elderly people struggle with a severe case of the “curse of knowledge.”  That is why so many reject new technology or new norms in society. “When I was your age…[Fill in the blank here]”

My point is: don’t be blinded by what you know.

Again, don’t be blinded by what you already know.

Because I knew technology, I THOUGHT I knew how to turn that knowledge into profit. My blinders were on.

It wasnt until I stopped screaming and started listening that the ball started rolling forward.  And believe me it is a lot harder to get the ball rolling than it is to keep it rolling once you have momentum.

Ultimately that is how I got 13,000 mobile app downloads literally overnight.  And no, we weren’t featured in iTunes.

Our app solved an annoying problem and bloggers liked it.

So if you have been struggling with something lately – be it starting a business or getting customers or even becoming a better listener, I suggest that you find somebody that has done what you are trying to do, or is good at what you want to learn and absorb everything you can from them.

There is this strange thing that happens when you hang out with people enough – your traits tend to rub off on each other. The same happens when you live in a country or part of a country. I am from Maine but I live in Florida. Every once Ina while I still catch myself with a little twang in my voice.

So although one might think that knowledge of the Internet might help you with an Internet based business, you might be wrong. It can only help you if you can take off your blinders long enough to look around.

Have you ignored something in your field or trade that is stopping you from getting to the next level?

Unfortunately I don’t enter these Adwords coupon codes often enough to remember exactly where to paste them in – but I do remember that they are hidden.

To enter a $50 or $100 Adwords coupon code first create your account at https://adwords.google.com. Next click on the Billing tab and Billing preferences.

Then go through the billing setup wizard and on the billing screen at the very bottom of the screen there is a “coupon code” link.

Enter your code and complete the wizard.

It is also important to note that you will get a message prompting you to pay them so your ads don’t end automatically. You don’t have to do that to collect the $100 credit. The way Google words it makes you initially think that you also have to deposit $10 of your money to your Adwords account, but it is not true.

Well, I thought: why don’t I just start a free blog on that blogger platform that Google acquired and just post them up there.  That way I can free up my email and others might find some funny stuff on there.  And so http://funnyforwards.blogspot.com was born.  I created the site, uploaded about 50 email forwards that were humorous, and then pretty much forgot about it.

Sometime in 2009, I had another stockpile of funny forwards so I posted about 50 more.  Then I honestly forgot about it again.

Then in 2010, happen to stumble on my Google Analytics account and noticed that I was getting tons of visits every month.  The traffic would generally be about 100 to 200 visitors a day with spikes of up to 1000.  So I did what most rookies would do and slapped some Google Ads up there.  After a few weeks and only making a couple of bucks on ads I foolishly decided to move on.

Looking to consolidate some of my web properties and focus my efforts I stumbled across this site again a couple of months ago.

Now that I know what a niche actually is in the online world and know how to identify and evaluate one, I realize that I picked a really good one and set it up properly to get traffic.

What I am still uncertain of is if I picked a niche that I can monetize easily.  For example, when selecting a website niche where the goal is to put ads on, you want ads that have high cost PPC rates.  This way you make dollars when ads are clicked, not pennies.

However, if your plan is to monetize with a different method, say an eBook, you have completely different qualifications to look for.  For instance, it might be difficult to sell an eBook to monks, as they typically don’t do a lot of purchases online, let alone Internet browsing.

To make up for my mistakes I am going to be spending some time on this site to see if I can monetize that traffic.  I’ve already changed the design, changed the ad style, and moved the ad placement a couple of times to test what works best thanks to Pat Flynn’s advice:

The changes that I’ve made with my Adsense ads that have dramatically increased (and decreased) my income.

Was I foolish to turn my back on this? Yes. But granted, I didn’t know then what I know now: that getting consistant traffic can be really difficult and that there are thousands of different ways to make money from that traffic.  In my own defense, it is hard to know what you don’t know.

So if you do have some websites already, take a look at the analytics once in a while.  What you see may shock you.  And if you do have some traffic, figure out a way to convert that traffic to sales.  Or at least start building a relationship with your audience.

I will keep you posted on my progress with this.

Oh yeah, and case and point of this post, I guess content really is king.

This only convinced me that I needed to workout harder and longer. Still no gains.

I remember one night after one of these intense arm workouts. I woke up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain. Both of my biceps we locked at about a 45 degree angle.

Luckily one was able to bend far enough for me to reach the icy hot in the cabinet. Ahhh, instant relief.

Think I over did it? Perhaps a bit.

I have a habit of doing this to myself with whatever I do.  Luckily I have discovered in the past couple of years that more is not always better, and in fact more is often worse.

Tim Ferris has a book on exercising called the 4 Hour Body that talks about doing highly targeted workouts for a short amount of time an achieving phenomenal gains with it.  I’ve even heard stories of distance runners training with sprints.

I’ve tried it myself, both with workouts and running, and I must say that I agree.  I was always able to see improved gains when my training was more focused but took up less time.

One thing that I remember about that arm workout from hell besides the pain, is that I couldn’t workout my upper body for almost 2 weeks after that – I was too sore.

That meant that any of the gains that I got in the short term were long gone before I could build on them again.

I see this same thing in my life as an Internet entrepreneur.  For so many years I was glued to my computer screen working on something really important, only to get burned out and lose momentum.  After all, my laptop is just down the hall and I DO have a mighty long list of stuff to do.

Don’t do this to yourself.

Even though running your own business is a ton of work, especially in the beginning. It is not required that you work 80 hour weeks all the time to make it happen.

In fact, I would argue that if it takes you that long then you need to take a step back and see what items are getting you the most results.  Then just do those one or two things that work. Get rid of everything causing you to spin your wheels.

That is why I have been doing inventory on all of my niche businesses and ideas. Then either bailing on them or consolidating them into niche markets.

The most important thing you can do for yourself is gain focus on one thing at a time.

Think I’m lying? I would have thought I was lying too a few years ago too.

This is why so many people like Pat Flynn, Jay and Sterling, and Patrick McKenzie are able to build businesses that require only a few hours a day to maintain.

Putting in the work upfront is very important.  But more important is staying consistant and focused with whatever you are doing – especially when it feels like you are not moving forward.

Six or seven years ago setting up a website or blog was a bit more difficult.  But today, there is no excuse for that.  Almost anyone who knows how to use the Internet is now able to setup a blog with WordPress.

Below is a video I created to eliminate those fears once and for all for people; so next time I get asked, I can just point them here.

Without further adeu, I present: “How to Setup a WordPress Blog in less than 3 Minutes”

Click to watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvtsfzgnUXY

Marketing is Like Dating

Marketing is like dating because you can be the nicest guy in the world but if you are an introvert, your crush may never know you exist.

Lets dive deeper, shall we?

Women dig confidence.  Confidence alone is why the jock, the charming guy, and the random not-so-attractive dude got the popular girl in high school.

The jock was confident and fun.

The popular guy was charming and reassuring.

And the random guy simply had social proof in his corner.

So what sells?  Honest confidence in yourself and product.  A product that is fun and risk free.  Oh, and by the way others are using it too!

You see, these are critical parts of the sales process – all of which get people to trust and like you.

The problem is that most introverts are hard-wired to not think this way.  Engineers, for example, think in terms of quantifiable metrics, not the invisible stuff that builds relationships.

But you cannot quantify building relationships and trust.  They are too infinite and abstract.

You must build trust before you can ever ask for a sale.  That is why blogs are so powerful.

They allow you to build an audience and trust.  Regular readers like your stuff and trust you and eventually some of them might buy something from you.

But it is not about the money just like it is not about the sex.  It can’t be.  Even though you both want it, if you are too direct with either you will lose the date or in this case the sale.

And it is not that the jock, popular guy, or random guy are being dishonest.  In fact, they are being themselves.  The random guy could never act like the jock and vice versa.

They do however go at dating game with their own angle.  Do this in your marketing.

If your crush likes funny guys.  Show her your funny side.  If you are not that funny and that is what she is into, move on.  She is not the right customer for you.

If she likes security, stand up straight and beat on your chest – or not.

Accounting was boring.  Freshbooks made it less boring.

“Being yourself” is not the same as “being confident,” so it is important not to integrate the two.  Everybody has a weakness just as every product has a weakness.  Forget about it and instead focus on your strengths.

Find what your good at – your angle in marketing or in dating and you will find your customer or your soul mate.

Most importantly, be confident in whatever you are doing.

-E

“If you build it they will not come…”

It took me a long time to actually accept that phrase.  Coming from a software and engineering background, when someone would mention the word sales I would naturally think of a sleazy used car salesman.

“Who needs that?” as any good engineer would say.  ”Why can’t these people see that the other product sucks and ours is way better?”

I always thought that I just needed to build cool product then I would have customers beating each other over to pay me money for it like on Black Friday.  After all, that is why I got into computers in the first place.  Build it and they will come.  I could hardly wait.

The truth is a product never sells itself.  Even Peter Thiel agrees.  People may get it and they may even love it, but IT WILL NEVER SELL ITSELF!

What about Google you ask?  They didn’t do any marketing in the early days.

Yes that is true.  But even though they didn’t market themselves it doesn’t mean that there wasn’t any marketing going on behind the scenes.  Google’s early users were marketing for them.  Viral marketing is still marketing.

Ok, so what is a honest guy to do? Marketing is not so evil after all; but I still feel like that used car salesman while selling my products.

Don’t think of it as being deceptive because that is not the goal.  In fact, if you are going to market a great product, you must deliver on that product as well.

Instead of thinking of marketing as shameless promotion, think of it as simply a pivot.

But instead of recreating the product, you are simply displaying it in a new light so others can better resonate with it.

Flickr, the photo sharing website (now part of Yahoo), originally started off as a online multiplayer game.  If the founders hadn’t noticed how people were actually using the site, and re-marketed it as something else, Flickr probably wouldn’t have been what it is today.

Marketing is simply discovering that angle that resonates the most with your target market.  Some businesses know it immediately.  Others search aimlessly for it.

So if you are like me and look at marketing and sales as deceiving.  Look again.  Marketing can and should be honest.

Marketing is necessary.  Learn to embrace it.  Zero users equals zero dollars.

Now on to the marketing.  But first, why diaper cakes?

Selecting a Niche

Well, I evaluated many niches from tattoo equipment to gun accessories but only diaper cakes ended up fitting my criteria. Here are the major ones:

1) Be able to add value to the niche you select.  Thanks to Andrew for this one.  I’m a web/mobile developer by trade so I know how to build e-commerce sites and I know what good design looks like.  Most of the websites in the diaper cake niche look like they fell out of the 1990s.  As a bonus, my wife is pretty crafty and has built several really nice diaper cakes for friends and family, so she knows what products look good and what doesn’t.  With both of us I felt we could really add value.

2) Select a price point of $100 or more.  I had heard this before from the Four Hour Work Week, but to recap: $100 – $200 products give you maximum profitability (20% – 50%) while minimizing customer service problems.

3) Find the right type of customers.  Our goal is to appeal to both the female and baby boomer demographics – two groups that are really starting to buy a lot of stuff online (in the past it has been mostly men).  Check out this infographic (thanks again Andrew!).

4) Sell products that are difficult to find locally.  While selling stuff online, it is important to niche down and find something that is difficult to find locally.  For example, I would never considering selling screwdrivers online.  Your local hardware store probably has a great selection.  However, a great “niched down” subset might be a special type of screwdrivers for working on oil rigs or large machinery.

Product vs. Marketing Mindset

Marketing has been my achilles heal for sometime now (hence why I blog about it now).  It is not because I don’t have the ability to market, but instead because it is difficult to know what you don’t know.  And I always thought the term “sales” was a dirty word.

Most engineers would agree with me though.  I’ve heard statements like “the product should sell itself” and “sales and marketing are not necessary.”  But in actuality the best product in the world won’t sell if nobody knows it exists.

Although Google’s walls are full of engineers, without marketing (be it word-of-mouth), we’d all be using Ask Jeeves – Ok, maybe not.  But you get my point.

So step one for me was just getting over thoughts of a used car salesman when somebody talks about marketing.

How to Market an E-Commerce site

As I am discovering from the various Internet marketing experts, most online marketing strategies are the same, no matter the product.

The things that do change, however, are what strategies work best for a) the type of site you have and b) the niche you are in.

It all boils down to 2 things.  In order to rank high in search engines you must have:

1) Relevant content related to your topic.  This makes sense if you think about it.  What are people looking for when they search the web?  Information primarily.  So if you are selling widgets, you’d better have some useful information about widgets such as “how tos” and information to solve widget-related problems.

2) Relevant backlinks pointing to your website. Think quality and relevance over quantity here.  This is how most search engines tell if your site IS ACTUALLY useful.  It is a basic voting system.  A backlink is essentially a vote for you.

I will be talking more about the specific strategies for marketing websites in upcoming posts.  But as you’ll see all of the strategies and methods are based on one or both of those underlying goals.

Stay tuned as I spend the next few months building traffic to my baby shower site OhBabyCakes.net and report the results.

To evaluate your own e-commerce niche, check out my notes that I used to select my topic.

• First make sure you purchase a SSL or Secure Certificate and that it is activated for your domain where OpenCart is installed.
• Next, login to to the admin section of your OpenCart site at http://www.example.com/admin/.
• Then go to System > Settings, Click the Server tab, and check the radio button to use SSL.
• Next you will need to connect to your domain with an FTP program such as FileZilla or access the config.php files in your cPanel.
• Edit the config.php file and change the “http” to “https” on the following two lines.  Then save the file.

define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'https://www.example.com/');
define('HTTPS_IMAGE', 'https://www.example.com/image/');

• Next open the /admin/ directory and edit the config.php similar to the previous step. Then save this file.

define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'https://www.example.com/');
define('HTTPS_IMAGE', 'https://www.example.com/image/');

• That’s it! SSL is setup.

Important Notes:

• It is important to remember that OpenCart does not require that all pages use “https” in the URL like most e-commerce solutions.  It does, however, force it when a user signs in or during the checkout process.
• Also, if you get errors that say something about “unsecured content” then somewhere on your page you have a hardcoded url to images, CSS files, or other content of “http.”  To solve, view the source on the page where you are receiving the error and search for “http”.  You’ll notice that most are “https”.  Fix all the occurrences that are not “https”.

For one, I believe the Internet has kept its promise in allowing people to reach almost anyone else in the world.

How to blog consistently

Ever notice how sometimes you can just buckle down and accomplish a ton of stuff in a short amount of time?  Yet other times it takes you exponentially longer to do similar tasks?  It comes down to know when (time of day) you are most effective and achieving a state of flow.  In high school and college, every term paper I procrastinated on or forgot about until the night before it was due, I seemed to do better on than the ones that I dragged out for weeks. This is because I was both more efficient and effective at writing late at night and while deadlines were staring me in the face.  In other words, I had no choice but to finish.

Why is this?  It is because a task grows in scope and complexity the longer you are given to complete it.  If you are given 2 hours to go to the gym, stop at the bank, pick up dinner and get gas then you MUST get started on it right now.  Whereas, if you are given a week to complete the same 4 tasks, it is quite possible that one or more of them wouldn’t get completed.  Given short deadlines forces one to drop all the garbage and focus on the task at hand.  Tim Ferris talks about it a bit in his book Four Hour Work Week.

So if you simply SAY you are going to blog instead of sticking to a firm deadline of “2 posts this week, one on Tuesday, another on Friday,”  chances are it won’t get done.

Also, since writing by itself often requires a certain state-of-mind and clarity in order to do effectively.  Another strategy that has helped me is writing multiple posts in the same sitting, then scheduling them a few days to a week apart.  In fact, this is the second article I’ve written today, and the fourth this week.  I’ve learned that it is a lot more difficult for me to allocate time every day to write a post.  I’d rather just take care of it once or twice a week when my mind is in writing mode.

The trick is to figure out your rhythm.  For example, if I check my email first thing in the morning, my day is off.  The morning and late at night are my most productive times, but  when I check email that early I can’t help but reply to everyone and put out fires.  Subsequently, I get none of my tasks done.

Lastly, you’ll probably notice that once you start writing and achieve a state of flow, the act of writing becomes a whole lot easier.  You’ll even start thinking of more things to write about and ways to make your writing more effective.

The trick is getting started and staying consistent.  Try writing once per day for 21 days, even if you don’t actually publish what you write.  Writing will become easier during that time.