I bet you’re wondering why I decided to put an “Online Marketing 101” series on a career blog.
Well, I believe that moving ahead in your career goes beyond perfect resumes, landing a job and dealing with corporate politics. I also know that many of you have your own side business, a hobby you’d like to turn into a business or hope to work for yourselves someday. There’s no doubt that ambitious Gen Y’ers place a high value on entrepreneurship and “lifestyle design.”
I also decided do this series because I’m a strong believer in diversifying your career portfolio. You wouldn’t invest your retirement funds in just one type of investment, so why would you invest your career into just one income source? Diversification helps absorb losses. If one investment vehicle fails, you have others that are performing well to even things out.
What better way to truly experience “lifestyle design” and “career diversification” than to own an internet business? You can do this while working full time, while raising your kids and/or while pursuing your hobbies.
This series is designed for beginners who may not have a business idea or blog yet. I will show you how to create your own website or blog and optimize it for search engines. We will also talk about strategy and monetizing.
Here’s a simplified road map of the Online Marketing 101 Series
• Pick a niche topic you are madly in love with
• Buy a domain name, create a Wordpress Thesis site
• Create great content
• Give away a freebie
• Test, tweak and repeat
Why a niche?
Internet marketers live for the niche. Why? Because a niche website’s content is more searchable and more likely to attract a targeted audience. Building your site around a targeted audience means a better understanding of how to provide helpful products and services to them. People come to the internet to solve problems. How can your passions and interests help others solve their problems?
Most people dream about becoming an entrepreneur but have no idea what business to get into. Let’s start by brainstorming your “passion project” which you can turn into a winning blog, website or business.
Leave your topic ideas (whether they are for you or for others) in the comments section.
Here are some examples of niche topics to get you started! college women’s soccer, Notre Dame grads in Chicago, best undiscovered chocolate, (your town) work at home moms, vegetarian cooking lessons for beginners.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Nicole, I love the idea but I am not sure what my niche would be. Of course I was just telling my brother that I love to read, typically romantic suspense or Chick-Lit type books all the time. So maybe I could write about books? Just throwing it out there…
Jessica,
I think there are a lot of cool directions you could take the “female bookworm” segment. You could rate and review books and authors, interview authors, publicists, publishers, etc. then link to those via Amazon’s affiliate program. As far as making money, you can sell educational programs created by others (e-books, webinars, coaching, etc) that teach people how to write and sell the heck out of their own chick-lit books. In other words, you’d be an affiliate and get a commission for selling other peoples’ book-related products. You could also create a directory page which people pay a small fee to be listed on. For example: graphic designers (for book covers), editors, ghost writers, freelance writers, agents, book publicists, etc. You’d be the go-to girl for everything chick-lit.
The “big” money is in creating your own e-book about this topic, which may come way down the road but is a good goal to keep in mind.
Hope this helps your brain get thinking!
NC
Hope this helped you take your idea a step further!
Nicole
Nicole,
Wow!! You have opened my mind to so many intriguing possibilities!! I love all of those and I do read enough that I could probably incorporate a bunch of those suggestions. Thank you so much! Hope to meet you tonight in person at the Diva Series event. Have a great day!
Jessica
So happy to hear you’re coming to the Diva Series tonight! You can spot me by my long pony tail (more on this later) and patten leather bow heels.
Nicole
I just started a blog – Grumpy Wiener Dog. Humorous takes on pet care, training, etc. But I haven’t even written my first post!! I think I’m just afraid to step out and do it. Maybe a little worried that I won’t keep on top of it, or that I might run out of things to talk about. I know I just need to bite the bullet and do it.
Barbie,
I totally understand what you’re talking about. AND, I’m the first to agree that writing cannot be forced. Therefore, what you can do to combat your fear is pre-write maybe 5 or so posts. This way you can write without being “judged”, and pick your favorite one to put up.
With the rest of the pre-written posts, save them for later so that you can fill “writers block” periods and post them later when you are busy.
Once you start, seeing comments and readers that come to your site will give you a huge confidence boost and build serious momentum for you to keep it going.
NC
Barbie,
I am very excited to read your blog.
Start writing! I like the idea of a humorous take on pet care, even though I do not have a pet yet. I think sometimes the hardest part is getting started so maybe write an introductory post and then come up with some topics you may want to write about. Before you know it, you will be a blogging machine. I wish you luck and look forward to reading soon.
Take care,
Jessica
I should’ve mentioned in my previous post that I totally LOVE this idea! I have a 1 year old yellow lab named Giada who is like my daughter. She is the highlight of my life. But she comes with MANY funny stories, “Marley Moments,” vet bills bc she did dumb things, etc. I think this is a great topic a lot of people can relate to. There are also a ton of monetization opps there!
NC
ok – you girls just motivated me to write! Thanks =) I will let you know when I start posting.
Nicole,
I am going to love this series! I can already tell it will be a motivating piece to follow. I read through the previously posted comments and I also love that you are empowering people to try something new. Be bold and follow the passion. Love it!
Kate
Nicole –
So glad to see you’ll be talking more about this. I know in a few years I’m going to want to have kids and stay home with them, so I’ve tried to plan ahead. I’ve been hard at work (after my day job) the last few months creating a business plan and making products, but also working on some ideas for affiliate programs. I’m approaching these efforts as though I’m investing in several options, knowing that one or all may or may not work out. But all the info I’ve read on affiliate marketing makes it sound so sketchy. . . I don’t want to get involved in a scam or anything. So I’m still trying to figure that part out.
Hi Nicole ~ This is a great post..wish I had found it sooner. I have been trying to define my niche for awhile. I know that I want to work with women and empower them through their career(which will trickle to other areas of their lives). I want to empower them with the tool and resources to become the CEO of their careers and their lives. I plan to work with them from the point of pushing them out of their comfort zone. I plan to have events like trapezing, hiking, skydiving…things really focused around pushing past the comfort zone. We both know all the good stuff happens when you are out of your comfort zone. Any ideas?
I love that concept and I am a huge believer that every woman should “Get comfortable being uncomfortable.” In fact, that is my mantra for 2010 and it has led me in great directions.
It sounds like you have your idea, you just need to start implementing it! Do you have a website/blog for this yet? If so, I think that is step 1. A post is coming soon on how to get started with creating a self-hosted (read: a lot more flexibility for business owners) Wordpress site.
I do have a website and a blog. I am looking to redesign my website to really speak to my target market and “being comfortable with being uncomfortable.” That has also been my mantra for the past 18 months. Jen Groover really inked that into my psyche. I am looking to transfer my site and blog to a wordpress site. I spoke with two designers and their pricing was a bit pricey. But I love the flexibility and control wordpress provides business owners.
thanks for getting back to me! I appreciate it.