After reading what begun as a contest between Pat Flynn and Tyrone Shum has turned in to an epic battle and challenge which interests many experienced and semi-experienced online marketers, and of course me. I have just been accepted to compete in the Niche Site Duel - a competition which challenges you to choose the most profitable niche, design and create the highest converting website, choose the right monetization method and to convert your visitors. Whilst competing I will keep a journey of my progress which I will be updating several times a week. I will be 100% clear cut with everyon

In our last installment of Top 25 Success Secrets, we cracked the top 5 with "Education." If you haven't yet read that article, I strongly suggest you go back and do so after you've finished reading this one. Education is essentially the cornerstone of running a home business. In this installment, we tackle number 4 on our hit parade...advertising. Some people think that this is the number 1 most important part of success. Well, I admit, it's up there. But when you see what 1 through 3 are and read my reasons behind their choices, you'll understand why advertising is only number 4. Okay,

In the last installment of Top 25 Success Secrets, I went over market research, which is probably one of the most important first steps required for having any kind of success online. If you haven't read that article yet, I strongly suggest you go back and do so after you're done reading this one. In this installment of Top 25 Success Secrets, which happens to be number 12 (we're getting close to the top 10) I'm gong to tackle the subject of understanding buyer psychology. If you're wondering just WHY this is so important, keep reading. You'll find out. Let me start out by saying that ma

In the last installment of Top 25 Success Secrets, I went over getting customer feedback, which is essential to do if you're going to have any idea of whether or not your products are any good or even if people want them. If you haven't read that article, I suggest, after reading this one, that you go back and read it then. I know you're going to get a lot out of it. In this installment, we're going to cover another topic that many people who run a home business drop the ball on...market research. This should be the first thing you do before you even THINK of starting a business or marketin

In the last installment of my series on Top 25 Success Secrets, I talked about observing trends, something that's very important to do if you want to stay on top of what's new in the world and maybe get an edge over the next guy. In this installment, I'm going to talk about branding yourself...something that has been quite helpful to me. Let me start out by saying this. Branding yourself doesn't have to necessarily mean that you brand YOUR name like I did, Steven Wagenheim. There are plenty of people out there who go through this Internet marketing, home business maze without anybody knowin

In our first installment of my 25 Success Secrets series, I talked about how important it is to have a positive attitude. In this installment, I'm going to go over secret number 24...making friendships. Unless you've done this, you can't imagine how important this can be. My mother, God rest her soul, used to have a saying. I don't know where she got it from. I think it was a movie. It went like this. "No man is an island unto himself." Translated, what that means in plain English is that nobody can do everything that they need to do all by themselves. They need friends. Oh I know...a lo

In our last installment of email marketing tips, we began a discussion of subject lines and their importance in getting prospects to open your emails. We focused primarily on the benefit type subject line. In this installment, we're going to cover more subject line strategies that I am sure you will find quite effective if used properly. Another subject line that is quite effective is the scarcity line. Now let me start off by saying that I in NO WAY condone false scarcity. If you're going to say you're only selling X number of units of your product, you damn well better mean it. Otherwise,

As an affiliate, did you ever go to the Clickbank marketplace one day, not see a product listed and then the very next day, you see it at the top of the marketplace with some insane gravity of like 500? Did you ever wonder how that happens? Well, you can stop wondering. This article is going to blow the lid off of those inflated gravity numbers. I know there's going to be a lot of vendors who are not going to like this article one little bit. The first thing the vendor does is he goes to the marketplace to see what's selling. No sense creating something REALLY new when there is stuff out th

Viral marketing...some people just don't get it. I can't tell you how many times I see the same question asked again and again. "How can I get my site to go viral?" Maybe you yourself are wondering how to start a viral campaign. Well, while I can't possibly cover everything involved in viral marketing in the space of an article, I can give you some ideas that will get you on your way. For starters, and this is probably the most important thing, you have to have something WORTH going viral. I hate to say this, but a blog with photos of your pet cat isn't going to do it. It has to be so

This article was inspired from a thread at a particular forum that I attend by a friend of mind by the name of Rob Howard, where members were essentially complaining about the increase of advertising costs for getting their offers in front of other members. Needless to say, it became one heated debate and is still going on as I type this. And then it got me thinking. Life isn't fair. There, I said it. Sometimes life just kicks you right in the teeth. Well, you have two choices when that happens. You can sit around and complain about it OR you can do something about it. Personally, I p