There’s A New Widget In Town

There’s a new widget in town and it’s called Niche Widget by David Perdew.  I got the scoop on it from Willie Crawford so I thought I’d take a look.   

It’s an ad widget (see it in my right sidebar above the Blog Rush widget.)  It’s rotating ads, not too obnoxious, and free.  You can pick the category of ads yourself.  There are 25 niche categories like dogs, weddings, health, food, and gardening, and 47 other categories to chose from such as internet marketing, joint ventures, eBay, and eBooks.  You can get as many of the widgets as you want and put them on all your sites.

And guess what - I had no trouble adding the code to my blog, and you know how techy-challenged I am.  It took mere minutes instead of the usual hours of sweat and swearing.

There are upgraded versions where you make 100% commission from the ads, but I chose the free version for testing purposes and it pays 50%.  If I like how it performs, then I’ll upgrade.  So far, the products in the ads seem to be quality items.  I haven’t figured out where he gets them from though. 

Anyway, I am testing it out on this blog and I’ll let you know how it goes.  To find out more about it you can go here: Niche Widgets or click on the Make Money With It link on the widget in the sidebar.

I did contact David Perdew with a question.  He answered quickly and gave me a really nice response.  I was also impressed with his other websites and his giving attitude.  You know how sometimes you can just tell when someone is a gracious person?  Niche Widgets

Internet Marketing Day Dreaming

Skiing yesterday was a blast.  One of the neat things about living 2 hours from world-class ski resorts is that I get to meet lots of interesting people from all over.  Yesterday I met folks from Illinois, Nebraska, New Mexico, California, Jersey, Michigan, England, Germany, and Australia. 

Well, my business did make money while I was up skiing, which is cool.  My goal is to make lots of money on auto-pilot, just like John Thornhill recently did while he was on his week vacation in Jamaica.  I like working hard to provide quality information and good products.  But then turning that whole deal into “making money on auto-pilot” has got me excited!

We all have dreams of what we would like to do when the money is flowing into our PayPal accounts and one of mine is to go skiing whenever I want without having to find a substitute to work for me at my JOB (because I won’t have a JOB.)  

An even bigger dream I have (I like to dream big!) is to have a condo in the mountains so I can ski in the winter, hike/bike ride/kayak in the summer, and work hard when I want to.

I have no problem picturing myself launching off one early morning in a kayak on a smooth alpine lake, gliding along just like the geese I see through the fast-lifting fog.  After that I head for my favorite coffee house and lug along my laptop to do something creative and worthwhile for my IM business.  Mmmm…. I’ll have a peppermint mocha, please!  You get the idea. 

Dreams keep me going when  I don’t understand something or feel frustrated in this internet marketing world.  Dreams keep me going when I’m tired and don’t want to work on a project.

 How about you?  What are your dreams?

New- Blogging 101 eCourse

I’ve finally finished up a project that I’ve been working on and wanted to let you know about it.  It’s called Blogging 101 eCourse (got a theme going here, don’t I?)  and you can get it here for free.  There’s also a link to it over in the right column, and also on my main webpage.  Did I leave out any spots to put it? 

Blogging 101 is mostly for people who are just starting out with blogs.  I’ve also included a free PDF called 31 Blogging Ideas at the end of Part 1 of the eCourse.  So even if you’ve been blogging a while, go ahead and sign up to get the PDF with Part 1. 

I’ve got 2 more things in the works but before I can work on them, I have to work on my taxes.  Sigh…

Well, at least I’m taking tomorrow off to go skiing.  I didn’t chose to live at the foot of the Rocky Mountains for nothing!

Interview With a Ghost… Writer

Ghostwriter - such a cool job title.

I’ve always been curious about ghostwriters; what exactly they do and how they do it, so I decided to find a ghostwriter and interview her.  I didn’t have to look far.  I’ve heard many good things about Pat Graham, and she was willing to stop her work long enough to answer my questions:

What exactly is a ghostwriter?  

From my point of view, a ghostwriter is a person who creates ebooks, articles and ecourses for Internet Marketers. These can be either PLR rewrites or original projects from the first word.  

Once I write them, and get paid, I give up all rights to the work forever. The person I wrote it for owns it and can do what they want with it. My name does not appear anyplace on the document. 

What is your background, Pat, and why did you decide to become a ghostwriter?

I have a varied background, including a journalism degree. I like to write and always have. I started out writing and publishing several subscription newsletters and moved on to creating operation manuals for some high tech companies I worked for. 

To be point blank honest, I  ran out of money a while back, and needed to find a way to fix that in a hurry. At the same time a friend of mine from a forum I belong to sent me a lifesaving email, asking if I would be able to rewrite four ebooks for him. I did and the rest is history. He referred me to others and it just kept growing. 

What kind of requests do you get the most of?  Ebooks, email, ecourses, autoresponders, etc?

I get almost daily requests for all of those. Internet Marketers are very busy and the need for fresh material is constant. I am happy to fill that need. 

How long does it generally take you to write a 40 page ebook?
 
That depends on how good the material I get from my client is. If it is a PLR rewrite, I add 20% to 30% new information from my own research. The rewrite usually takes 2 weeks. I do a lot of detail checking on PLR material. 

If I am writing an original ebook, it could take 3 weeks or longer. In this case I get a topic, maybe a few keywords or possible chapter headings from the client and the rest is mine. The research is the longest part of the process. I do send a list of questions to the client so I can get their attitude and thoughts, which lets me write close to how they think. 

Which niches do you get more requests to write about - the Internet Marketing niche or specialty niches?

Internet Marketing subjects are almost all I write about…how to write and market ebooks, articles used to send traffic to a website or sales page, step-by-step instruction guides that get turned into ecourses.  

Once in a while, I get requests for a new subject or a different niche. That’s starting to grow slowly. I like it because it gives me something else to think about other than Internet Marketing, a mini brain vacation, so to speak. 

What was the most interesting niche topic you ever wrote about?  

That would have to be a set of articles on celebrities. This was so far from my normal topics that I loved researching and writing it.  

How do you do your research? 

I’m practically married to Google. When I get a project to write I start looking for all the material I can find that’s even slightly related to the subject. I use all the popular search engines and some that are not well known at all, practically secret.  
 
Next, I check out the online article directories and my own personal, endless stash of PLR articles in what I call “My Library.” I stack all that material in a folder and use it to jump start my mind. I get my ideas on focus, tone and major points I want to cover while I’m reading my research. 

Any words of advice on hiring a ghostwriter?

I believe that a ghostwriter’s job is 100% customer service. I also believe in the Internet Marketing tenet of “Over Deliver.” So, I spoil my clients rotten and the result of that action gets me constant referrals and repeat business. 

If a person needs to hire a ghostwriter, I recommend asking other marketers for recommendations or posting inquiries on forums. Most forum members are willing to help other members and you can usually get several good leads on a ghostwriter who will work well for you. 

Pat Graham   
ghost-writer@charter.net

When Life and Internet Marketing Collide

Some observations and thoughts I’ve had recently:

1. When being a housewife and internet marketer clashes, who wins?  Well, just this morning I resorted to ironing while I listened to Lee McIntyre’s latest download.

2.  Is checking my adsense earnings 20 times a day like the proverbial “watched pot that never boils”?  If I don’t check it all day, will it maybe boil over… please?

3.  I’ve noticed lately that I hurry to finish up some IM thing just so I can blog about it.

4.  I was copying down a recipe my friend was giving me over the phone and I found myself putting the instructions in bullet point format.

5.  Are successful Internet Marketers delighted when they have the flu and are puking their guts out, that they’re still making money, even while puking?

6.  All this nagging by the gurus to start outsourcing some of the work load.  I have a brilliant idea.  How about if I outsource my day job so I’ll have more time to work on my IM stuff?

7.  Hmmm… tough choice - spend $$ on a new info product or a new pair of shoes?

8.  Why is it I can remember the name of so many internet marketers I’ve never met, yet I can’t remember the names of my son’s best friends?

9.  When was the last time I read something that wasn’t an ebook?  I know, I know, it was a couple months ago when I read The 4 Hour Work Week and Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I’ve got to get a life.

10.  When a friend asks me what I’ve been doing all day, I make something up.  How do I begin to explain just exactly what I’m doing online?  Come to think of it, what am I doing online?

11.  Spam is the weed in my internet marketing garden.  No matter how often I get rid of them, they just keep coming back.

Do you have any to add?
Leave me a comment!