Sorry about that Lis. Once you start reading, you will be hooked, provided your first marketing book isn’t “dry”. And yes, a ‘real’ product is the way to go. You would be absolutely amazed at the things that sell out there. Ex. A buddy of mine made 1.5 mil last year selling cable wire online. I kid you not. How sexy is that?

I started online to make money – I knew it wouldn’t be easy – but it took me over a year to figure out that I had to sell stuff to make money – I kid you not – I wasn’t just unaware of marketing I was totally anti-it – I can naturally go months without buying anything becyond the necessities (gin, chocolate) – so I didn’t understand that for some people shopping is a lifestyle. Oddly I found that people bought from me because they trusted me because I had been open about my incompetence – then I figured out that the people I bought from were the people that I trusted – like duh – but it was a big one for me!

I’m intrigued about selling a real product outside of the MMO sector – I just have to find out more about using PPC to figure out the demand.

But thanks – you blend marketing with SEO in a way that makes a lot of sense to those of us who have never really “got” marketing.

Oh, You can also do with with a social website……like Grizzly’s. And yes, while grizzly does make money thanks largely to his organic listing, his site is the epitome of the perfect social blog…..in effect, he has a list without having a list….the Ultimate list….he has people who hang on his every word and would probably drink pee-pee if he told them that it would make them money and he engages them in a way that makes them feel like they too can earn a living online.

It looks like not all social traffic is equal. There is social traffic that just wants to be entertained (and won’t make you money), then there is social traffic that wants to learn to do something (who can be monetized if you develop authority in their eyes and recommend a product). In IM, this kind of monetizable social traffic is exemplified by the repeat visitors to Grizzly’s blogs, Darren Rowse and Brian Clarke. I used to visit the latter two blogs quite often (and even bought some of the products they recommended). Eventually, I stopped visiting their blogs – I had learned what I needed to learn, they started repeating themselves and in Brian Clarke’s case he started writing less meaty posts as well as outsourcing his posts. And this is another moral to the story – as long as you continue providing value to your visitor, he/she will continue coming back.

Just discovered you after I saw Lissie recommending you over at Ben’s forum. Glad I did!

Great post and you are so right about Griz being a social blogger without wanting or trying to be one. LOL

Will be watching your posts with much interest from now on.

Tracey

I also agree, its still going to be testing out how this new change impacts our SEO and internet marketing activities.

Bottom line, don’t wait for your competitors to figure it out first. Get out there and start doing your own testing, writing and posting content to see what happens.

Cheers

No opinion as of yet. Chances are that Google will favor those that it trusts (provided that the search term is competitive) and not favor those it doesn’t. I am not sure how the algo will factor the real time results but I can tell you this. Just like universal search, real time search will give you yet another weapon to be seen and that is not a bad thing.

As an online marketer, you look for “ins” and take them as they come. I am not saying to be reactive necessarily but in the case of Google, you never know where the pieces will fall when they implement something new. I imagine if you are a trend marketer, this will be an easy opportunity to rank for something that you would otherwise have to rely on regular search.

And if you are Howie Schartz, you are thinking about how to game it to the point where all the real time search results are yours. It is all just a matter of figuring out how they are deeming the most important.

I would recommend whatever works for you. I know that isn’t a fair answer but it is what it is and different markets take different strategies. The one thing I do know is that the more visible your sites are online, the more chances you have at making money. It is partially why I think authority sites work best. However, there is usually a dip (to use Seth Godin’s words) that is too painful for many people to get through.

Internet marketing is 90% casualties and you should be happy about that. That makes the other 10% “scarce” or a commodity in their markets. Your key is to find out how those 10% made it and duplicate their success with your own twist.