In today's newsletter...

Right after this quick sponsor message I'll show you how to do exactly that...

Ok, first of all, $160k/mo. from month one just isn't going to happen for most people.

I'm not saying it can't, but that is very, very much the exception. You need big bucks to invest in some very heavy advertising. Instead of listening to hype, most people just need to start thinking realistically. 

I got started online 14 years ago because I was getting tired of the job I had. I just wanted to find a way to make some money working for myself. That's all. I figured if I could make as much money as my job paid me, maybe I could someday quit my job and work from home. And I did exactly that six months later.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you don't have to have a grand vision either. That can actually lead you down the wrong roads.

If you're like many folks who have modest goals of simply taking some stress off their financial situation, that's a good enough starting point. You never know where you'll end up once you get started.

And that's the first secret to reaching even a modest goal... getting started. As in today. Right now.

So here's a step-by-step list of the 10 things I'd do if I were starting from scratch today...

1. Decide what niche I want to work in (something I enjoy or find interesting and also a niche where people might buy products or services I can either create or sell as an affiliate.)

2. Get a domain and a decent looking website or blog. (I'd use a pre-designed website template or wordpress blog theme to save time.)

3. Create or attain the rights to an irresistible giveaway that people in my niche would want and need.

4. Add an opt-in form at my site or blog using aweber.com's service, so people could request my free gift. Immediately upon their request I'd show them a special offer so I could make some easy sales. (Preferably a product or membership site offer of my own, or if I had none, I'd recommend a good product in my niche where I could earn an affiliate commission.)

5. I'd make sure I had a nice a follow-up sequence of emails in place at aweber so that every person who downloaded my giveaway received an email every few days for a period of at least a few months. This series of emails would be a mix of helpful content and recommended products and services, via affiliate links. Every recommendation would fit nicely within my niche, of course.

6. Publish a newsletter every other week with more content for my subscribers. This would keep me in front of them and continue establishing my credibility in that niche.

7. Submit articles to goarticles.com and other article directories with my URL in the footer (signature) of each article. Again, more credibility and more subscribers.

8.Create a new info-product or service every six months, for the niche I chose, then tell my growing list of subscribers about it.

9. Build even more credibility and website traffic by using social marketing tools such as MySpace Groups, FaceBook Groups, Google Groups, Yahoo Groups and more.

10. Invite other sites and newsletter publishers in my niche, and related niches to promote my product/service at 50% commissions and then reciprocate their efforts to my list.

Whew.

I know, that's quite a list. But you don't have to do it all at once. Once task every couple weeks is fine, you just have to get started!

Now I'll give you a real, working example.

Let's say you are someone who likes to do arts and crafts. Many people would assume the best way to make money would be to sell their arts and crafts online. While you could go that route, your income would be capped at a certain level. After all, you can only make so many projects a day. 

A better way to go about profiting from your hobby online is to help others who have the same interest. Here's a condensed version of that formula above, that will take you from scratch to profit in a month or so.

Step 1: Create a giveaway item.

Put together a quick ebook, guide or manual that solves a problem that people in your niche have. It does not have to be anything big, just something helpful and with good value. Here's a video that shows you how to create a PDF ebook for free.


Step 2: Set up an attractive squeeze Page.

This is where you will give away the basic product you created in step one above. That's right, you're going to give it away for free. Your squeeze page should be short and to the point. Tell your visitors how they're about to solve their problem quickly and easily.


Step 3: Set up an offer.

When people sign up at your squeeze page they should immediately be taken to an offer page. This web page can offer them a special deal on something you created for that niche. For example, you could offer an expanded version of the guide they just requested. Or maybe a related product such as a detailed video tutorial. If you have not created anything of your own just yet, the page can send people to an affiliate product you personally recommend. (If they buy, you earn a commission.)

To show you an example of this process in action, I just set up a secret backdoor link to my Guru-U.biz site. At that site I give away a training package for people interested in the helping others with web business. As you can see, upon claiming the free training, I immediately offer a package to folks who need their own products to sell. Using a "giveaway then offer" setup such as this, gets you leads, gets you sales and builds long-term relationships.


Step 4: Setup a follow-up email sequence.

I know, setting up an autoresponder sounds like a lot of work, but remember, you only have to do it once. You just write the messages, plug them into an autoresponder service such as Aweber and then everyone who downloads your giveaway gets regular follow up emails from you. The messages help them with other questions they may have in your niche. They also get occasional recommendations for related products and services.

One you have these four steps completed, all you need is traffic. After this quick message from yours truly I'll show you how to get that for free.