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MicroNiche Finder is an amazing tool that just keeps getting better.

I don’t even know how long ago I first bought this amazing tool, but it seems at least a couple of years. I do know there have been 8 upgrades since I bought it (lifetime upgrades are included in the purchase price); I can’t even remember all the great stuff that’s been added, but the result is a tool that I can’t imagine being without.

Okay, so I should tell you what MicroNiche Finder does. I guess you could say that at its very basic it’s a keyword tool. The thing is it is so much more than that.

You enter your keyword query and the program returns the suggestions. It will give you broad results, exact results, local searches, global searches, a graph representation, exact phrase count, ad cost, commercial intent, measure of backlinks, and strength of competition, and that’s just the first part. You can narrow the dig on the search terms returned, get more terms from google, and on and on and on. You can dig and hone and explore until you know everything there is to know about your search term.

Then there’s a filter feature, so you can get only the results you define, such as minimum local or global search, ad cost, minimum or maximum number of words in your phrase, and all kinds of other criteria.

WARNING: You have to watch your time carefully – either that, or plan your day around getting completely and totally lost in your search.

Oh, and I didn’t tell you about another really incredible feature: you can find out whether the exact phrase term is available as a domain name, either .com, .net, or .org. Just this feature alone can save a ton of time.

I guess I sound kind of over the top about this tool, probably because I am. I’ve looked at a number of other keyword tools, and even tried a few. One highly recommended tool was going to take me a week to learn to use and understand, it seemed.

MicroNiche Finder is a highly intuitive tool to use. Plug in the word or phrase you want to investigate, push the button, fill in the Google captcha (did I tell you the results are pulled right from Googe?), and wait a few seconds. You can have everything you need to know to make a decision on whether to pursue a market in minutes.

I’ve been able to find some lucrative micro niches that I would never have thought about without this tool. And I will admit that I’ve also lost a few, well several, hours fascinated in finding lots and lots of new ideas. In fact, I had to make a promise to myself that I wouldn’t buy any more new domains until the ones I already registered have sites built. So fair warning.

Anyway, take a look at MicroNiche Finder. See if it doesn’t fit right into your online business.

I’ve been pretty lucky in the last few years with the products I’ve purchased from internet marketers, in that I haven’t had a problem with someone honoring their guarantee. I guess that made me let my guard down.

I recently purchased a product that would help automate getting sites ranked. Yeah, I know, that kind of thing is iffy right now, with Google’s new adsense formulas or changes or whatever. I know that, and that’s why I made sure to check the seller’s reputation, and I made sure to make a copy of the guarantee and to note the 30 day mark on my calendar so I could make my decision before the time was up.

I did make my decision at 28 days and entered a support ticket. It took 2 days to even get a response, and that was to ask just what I’d done to make the system work. I responded with my actions and reminded the seller that the guarantee didn’t define any particular numbers of actions (in this case, building sites). I put 19 sites into the system, and I decided I’d better see how it worked before I committed myself to buying more domain names.

I haven’t heard back, now 3 days after the last answer, so I decided maybe I should dig a little deeper into this guy’s reputation. I had seen before that he was generally rated to have a good product, but might be a little slow on the customer service. Now I found that there were a number of comments further along in the Google search results that he wasn’t very good at honoring his guarantee nor refunding money.

I’m hopeful that he’s had something going on this weekend and that’s why he’s slow in his response. However, if he hasn’t responded by a couple of more days, I’ll be back to give you a name. And I’ve already checked that I can purchase a domain name that should get his attention.

The real word here is be sure you check beyond the first couple of Google pages when you do your research on a seller. I certainly will be following that path. And I have decided that along with saving a copy of the guarantee, I’m going to be sure my notes tell me just which marketer recommended the purchase.

A trend I’ve noticed lately is the number of emails I get telling me the marketer has got this sweet deal for me – something free! Wow!

They’re generally pretty light on information about what this free product is or who’s list they’re telling me I should sign up for. Nor does the water get any clearer when I get to the squeeze page. I’ve seen as few as three sentences, and all they basically said was “sign up.”

I’m apparently just supposed to trust that they’re going to send some information I actually want or need, and further I should trust them that they’re competent to even tell me about the subject.

I’ve quit signing up for these kinds of things, primarily because I’m on so many lists now that I rarely have fewer than 80 or 90 emails daily. I am trying to unsubscribe from the lists I know aren’t giving me any particular value.

For awhile I stayed on lists to see what kind of stuff was being marketed and what the effective subject lines and texts contained. It was kind of an internet marketing mantra that you should do this. However, I’ve pretty much ruled out the internet marketing field as one I’m likely to enter. It’s way too crowded now, and apparently there are thousands entering it each month, at least judging from the number of new names I see showing up.

Another thing I’ve noticed is the number of offers I’m getting for products I know have been around for at least a couple of years, if not more. I know that marketing and selling principles are consistent, so those offerings don’t bother me. But I also know how much eBay has changed in the past couple of years, and adsense seems to change every few months. How valid can these ebooks be?

So now unless you’re a marketer I’ve seen offer real value, I’m unsubscribing when you send me one of the “look at this free thing I got you” or “I paid for this so I could give it to you” emails. I know you’re helping somebody out; I don’t know whether it’s because you’re a good person or because you’re being paid. I guess at this point I don’t really care. I don’t think it’s free if I have to give up by email address, and I really don’t want to be on any more lists.

So thanks, and buh-bye.

Have you noticed that the Facebook “Like” buttons have started showing up on sites – like the one over <— at the end of that left column?

I’d noticed them in passing on some of the marketers’ blogs, but didn’t think about it until I was reading a post from Yanik Silver on his Internet Lifestyle Blog. The post is called Multiplying the “Facebook Accelerator Factor,” and he talks about getting into the Facebook trend that is picking up steam in the internet marketing world (in fact, one the the biggest launches recently was a $1,000 product aimed at Facebook marketing).

At any rate, Silver says this button from Facebook is more than worth applying, because their studies have shown readers are 4 times more likely to hit the like button as they are a thumbs up button, and he’s already seen benefit.

The button is dead-easy to install. Just go to http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like. You plug in a little information, and the application generates code. There are two codes: iframe and XFBML. The second is something to do with javascript and requires an understanding way above mine. But the iframe just plugs right into your post, or in my case, a text box.

I have added the code to a number of my sites and will be anxious to see what happens. They’re non-internet marketing sites, which feels to me more likely to generate “likes,” but I really don’t have anything to base that on. We’ll see.

In the meantime, I think they look kinda cool.

Does talk of search engine optimization make your eyes cross and your brain go numb? It does for me.

Even with all my side trips to new ways to make me an internet millionaire, SEO has been a constant. Although I do admit that in the beginning I had the “if I build it, they will come” mis-perception. Of course, all those get rich yesterday schemes, with pictures of a mansion with a Lamborghini out front, never quite get around to addressing just how you’re supposed to get eyeballs on your site.

I’ve been working on a site now for two and a half months. It’s for an as-seen-on-tv product that pays a nice commission. Google had recently done their latest revamp, so I was very careful to use traditional methods: original content, slow  back-links, article marketing, etc. I made a few early sales, then this month, nothing, nada, zilch.  So depressing.

I’d run Rank Checker every morning (that’s an add-on to the Firefox browser) only to have it come back with the site unranked. I couldn’t figure it out – “why doesn’t Google like me?” cried my inner five year old. The sites that Google wasn’t supposed to like, with Yahoo answers and YouTube videos pulled in, were ranking. Woe is me!

Today, though, all is well with the world. I’m at #15!! After being nowhere for most of August. I don’t understand a bit of it. I do know the most helpful marketers warn of this and counsel patience (not my strong suit). But I am now a total believer.

I still don’t like SEO much; the tedium of doing it right gets to me. But I am coming to understand that a lot of what makes a website work involves tedious tasks. There may be magic software out there that will do much of it, but it still requires operator input, and that gets boring. However, I also realize the elation that I’m feeling right now over my #15 spot makes up for quite a bit!

So keep at it, even at the darkest, most boring moment. Trust me, finally getting some ranking makes it all worthwhile.

If you have registered a domain name, you’ve probably heard from Domain Registry of America. Read the letter if you want, but then throw it away.

The first one I got was confusing to me. I was an absolute newbie – I’d registered my domain name and made a few posts to my blog, but I was busy pursuing my wealth on eBay, so there hadn’t been any focus on building web sites and registering domain names beyond that.

So, the first missive came from these people, I did a little investigation with Domain Cheapsters, where I’d registered my domain, and figured out this helpful reminder to renew my registration was actually going to charge several times more than Domain Cheapsters was asking.

Hello? Are they really getting away with this? Apparently so.

The letter comes looking all official with an American Flag as part of their logo on the envelope and the letter. It has a heading that says “Domain Name Expiration Notice,”  and then explains that this is a “courtesy to domain name holders.”

Hah! Some courtesy! Their kindness is offered at a $30 renewal rate – 20-some dollars more than Domain Cheapsters charges. Even better, they’ll register the .info for me for 2 years for only $50 ($3.98 at my registrar) and the .org for the same $50, $15.98 for that same two years with mine. Such a deal!

I guess they’re doing smoke and mirrors, but apparently it isn’t an out-and-out illegal scam or con. But this is definitely a “buyer beware” situation.

Bottom line is, don’t fall for it. Go to reputable on-line domain registrars for both your initial registration as well as your renewals.

I think the very first internet marketing product I bought was Joel Comm’s Adsense Secrets. It came as a physical product, CDs, and was to be the start of my internet empire.

As with a number of other products I’ve purchased toward this goal, I looked it over, decided I had a bunch of other stuff to learn (like how to figure out domain names and hosting and building a web site), and put it all aside.

I did, however, stay on his mailing list and listen to his advice. I’ve been tempted over the years to buy more of his products, but managed to ignore the urge.

Until his newest: KaChing: How to Run an Online Business that Pays and Pays.

I’m not quite sure what it was that made me buy this book. I’m not normally one to buy “how to” online business books unless they’re specific to a method. Maybe I’ve just reached that point in my pursuit of expertise in this business.

At any rate, I did order the book from Amazon for my Kindle. I also ordered a couple of Steven King/Bachman books I hadn’t read before. And in the normal course of business, I would have dived into the King books and put the Comm book on hold.

Didn’t happen, though. I thought I should at least take a quick look at Comm’s book. I did, then I was hooked.

Comm counsels that you should write as if you’re telling your best friend about something, and that is exactly how he writes. I’ve watched some of his videos, so his voice is familiar, and that’s what I hear in my head as I read along.

The information he shares should resonate with anyone – from newbie to veteran – working online in marketing. He begins by talking about how the internet has changed the world of business and marketing and how there’s a lot of money being made because of that change. Then he starts talking about the different ways that money is being made and how you can do it too.

I’m a little better than halfway through, and I have pages of notes. He’s reinforced some of the stuff I’ve learned in the 4 years I’ve been investigating online business, and he’s provided me with information and ideas I haven’t run across before.

The book is available as a hardback at Amazon, as well as the Kindle edition. It runs 235 pages and seems to offer some little bit of wisdom and education on each of them.

If you’re looking for a good grounding in the business or information to get you started or information you might have missed along the way, KaChing: How to Run an Online Business that Pays and Pays
is something you really need on your bookshelf or Kindle.

I’ve been spending a part of my morning unsubscribing from a number of internet marketing lists. For a long time I subscribed to the marketing doctrine that I really should stay on a lot of lists to see what new products and methods were being offered.

However, now I’m finding that I don’t get that information; I get emails telling me the marketer has a free something for me. Great! Then I open, follow the link, and find that my “free” report or ebook or whatever is being offered in exchange for my email address. Hey, wait a minute! If you want me to give you something in return for your goodie, it ain’t free to me.

Free doesn’t mean only that money doesn’t change hands. Please don’t get confused about that.

I don’t mind if a marketer tells me there’s a report waiting for me in exchange for my email address, and that the marketer thinks this is a good exchange. That’s honest, and it won’t generate an unsubscribe action from me.

I understand there are a lot of new – and young – people coming online with an expectation they’re going to make a bunch of money online. And a constant with internet marketing has been that “the money is in the list.” Most of the gurus tell you the only way to make real money is to get a lot of subscribers. I get that. Just don’t do this “free business.”

Another part of the equation is that I’m being asked to give up my email address to someone for a report on how I can make money on the web apparently written by someone I haven’t heard of. Now, I certainly don’t know every single successful marketer in the IM world. But I’ve been online for a few years now, and I’m pretty sure I know most. So being offered an ebook about making money online from someone who has yet to make money online? Well, no thanks.

I know you’ve got to start somewhere. But it seems to me the best way to start your career is to start it honestly.

Although I don’t see it as much as I used to, I still occasionally get an offer that claims that it “might” be a black hat system, or that it’s “just a little gray” but still okay to use. I’m probably not seeing as many of those offers, because my initial reaction has been to unsubscribe from those marketers’ lists.

Starting out in this business, I didn’t know enough to have a clue about what might be white or gray or black hat. I figured that some of it was hype-y marketing to the younger newbies, much the same as putting a scantily clad well endowed woman in an ad – or a huge expensive house or bright red expensive sports car.

Since I’m not a teenage boy and I am by nature (and experience) somewhat of a skeptic, I ignored the pitches. And I remember too well a law school ethics class admonishment: If it look bad and smells bad, stay away from it.

I was reminded of this when I found a posting about some fellows who look to be in a great amount of trouble because they used a black hat method of cookie stuffing to scam eBay out of a lot of money. If the accusations are true, I’d say it falls more into the realm of intentional fraud, and they could lose everything and then some. You can read the posting here:

http://www.revenews.com/kelliestevens/affiliates-indicted-for-cookie-stuffing/

Be sure to read the comments as well.

The thing is, there is so much money to be made on the internet that you don’t have to resort to these kinds of tactics. Of course, the right way involves a lot more work, but the results of that work will be unlikely to result in your losing it all.

I think it’s pretty clear that the federal agencies are only going to get more involved in what they view as scammy or deceptive or illegal practices. The days of the Wild West on the web are coming to an end. Expect that if you don’t play by the rules, you’ll be scrutinized – and possibly sued or indicted.

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