Sometimes we should just go back to the basics. It's easy to allow our businesses to evolve over time in a piecemeal sort of way rather than as part of a predetermined strategy. Some time ago I created a flow chart showing one of my favourite online business models. It still works, I still use it in a number of niche markets and you are welcome to copy or adapt it to suit your own specific needs.

As the New Year begins tomorrow, I hope that the above flowchart helps you to build a successful and profitable online business.

I'm just about to head of to spend Christmas with my Son Mark and his family. I hope you have a great Christmas too..

I did a little last minute Christmas shopping yesterday, one of the shops I visited was WH Smiths.. they sell stationery, books magazines CDs and DVDs.

The magazine stand is huge, there are literall thousands of them all vying for your attention.

So, what is it that makes you pick up a magazine? What is it that prompts you to eventually buy that magazine?

Well, colour certainly comes into it, as does the layout of the front cover. I'm sure that the editors invest a lot of time in choosing what they believe will be the right photograph for the front cover.

But, at the end of the day, it's the headlines that have the greatest influence.

Let's face it, we buy magazines primarily for the articles.. and the only way we can identify what's inside is by looking at the headlines.

So, the next time you find yourself with headline writer's block, take a stroll to your nearest magazine stand. I'm sure you'll find lots of inspiration.

I don't believe that anything to do with Affiliate Marketing can really be described as "easy". Like most other business models, it takes work.

However, I do think that it's possible to make things simple, straightforward and easy to use.

If you're at all interested in affiliate marketing as a business model, then you MUST check out the Instant Affiliate Website it's free and if nothing else you should watch the video. (I'll apologise in advance for the absolutely dreadful header graphic!)

I've been planning to re-launch my Marketing Confidential site as a blog for a long time and I finally got around to it today. However, please don't for a moment think that I'm going to negelect this blog! I'll continue to post Internet Marketing news, scandal and gossip here on a similar schedule as you've seen up to now. (In other words - sporadically!)

My new Marketing Confidential blog is dedicated to sharing the results from my personal testing of a wide range of Internet Marketing strategies, tactics and techniques. Some of the content will be open to the general public. However, I'm reserving quite a lot of my "interesting" results for my premium members.

Basically, the site will grow over the coming months and years and, as the content grows in value, the price will increase accordingly.

So, now is the ideal time to secure a premium membership as the subscription rate that you join at will be maintained for as long as you remain a member.

Please check out the new Marketing Confidential blog right now and let me know what you think.. There are already five new posts, I must be on a roll!

I'd love to get your comments and feedback.

Not everyone can afford "Professional" applications such as Dreamweaver and Photoshop to design and create sales pages. Apart from the initial cost of investment, these high end programmes can also have a very steep learning curve.

There are lots of alternatives and you can secure many of those alternatives completely free of charge (I don't count giving an email to register as a cost).

However, it can take you quite a while to find the best combination. Until now..

I've found a great video training package that shows you exactly which applications are most suitable for Internet Marketers and how you can get the best from those programmes.

Not only that, but the "Create Your Own Sales Page" also shows you the step-by-step process to quickly and easily create your own profit pulling sales pages; together with some great copywriting tips.

I can guarantee that you'll get a great return on your investment in the "Create Your Own Sales Page" learning package. Often it's much better to invest in you than in expensive software.

I received a lot of positive and helpful feedback on the Content Sites post. But, as a couple of people pointed out, the post didn't talk about how to find suitable topics for a content site.

So, to get you started I've listed a few of my favourite research sites.

Remember, you can save a lot of time if you secure the IM Research Power Tool to help you with your niche finding.

• Google Zeitgeist
• Trend Watching
• Trend Hunter
• CNN
• Fox News
• CNBC
• Lycos Top 50
• Yahoo! Buzz
• eBay Pulse
• Amazon
• Google Trends
• Shopping.com Top Searches
• AOL Hot Searches
• Google Groups
• Craig's List
• Delicious Popular -
• Digg
• Google Catalogs
• Magazines.com
• Clickbank Marketplace

There's no need to visit all the above sites, simply choose a general theme and then browse a few sites to assess the popularity and to dig down into the long tail phrases. There are four basic questions you should consider..

1. Is there a group of people passionate about this niche topic?
2. Does this group have a problem they are desperate to solve?
3. Is the market big enough, but not so big you’ll have too much competition?
4. Do the people in this niche spend money?

You need a "Yes" answer to either question one or question two. And a "Yes" to questions three and four. People are either passionate about their interests or they are desperate to find a solution.

Clearly, to be successful, your site needs to attract enough people and there's no point in building a site on a topic where there's no potential income.

I was thinking about all the different Internet Marketing Business Models that are available to anyone who wants to set up a profitable online business.

The more I thought about it, the longer the list became. Rather than write the equivalent of War & Peace, I decided to create a series of articles.

If you are considering making money online, you might want to consider the following option:

Content Sites:

These sites are usually built around a single niche theme and often around a fairly narrow set of keyword phrases. "Long Tail" keyword phrases are often selected as they are highly targeted and often enjoy lower levels of competition. The basic priciple is to provide quality content, usually in the form of articles, that will attract the visitor and which will rank highly in the search engines. This type of content site is usually monetised through the Google Adsense programme, hence the term "Made For Adsense".

A typical site might run to around 10 pages, often built using the very popular Wordpress blog platform, or when funds are limited they can be easily started using a free hosted blog service such as Blogger.com or Wordpress.com.

The advantages of this business model are: The low cost of entry (domain name plus hosting), the ease of setting up a site (especially when using a blog) and that the income is managed by Google.

The disadvantages include the additional Search Engine Optimisation work required to achieve a good ranking, the relative low levels of income from a single site and the delay between your initial investment and receiving any income from Google.

Additional considerations: Content sites offer an opportunity to test out a niche market with minimum investment. Often, a niche content site that does well with Adsense income can be upgraded to incorporate additional income streams such as the Amazon affiliate programme.

I strongly recommend that you consider your exit strategy right from the start.. with low maintenance costs the made for adsense site can continue to generate income for many years. Sites that perform well should be considered for further development. However, one of the best ways of generating an excellent return from such sites is to offer them for sale as an "Established & Profitable" website.

I'd like you to seriously consider the question "What Are You Building?"

Let me explain..

• Are you building a source of online income that means you can give up working in a full time, or part time, job?
• Are you building an online business selling your own digital products?
• Are you building a portfolio of websites that generate Adsense, Affiliate or CPA income?
• Are you building a list of subscribers allowing you to promote your own and other people's products?

Have you thought about this at length?

Do you have a clearly defined business plan?

I'm not expecting you to answer me right now. I'm not the one who needs to know the answer.. You Are!

So, take the time to think about it, be totally honest with yourself. If it helps, take some time to make a few notes on a sheet of paper, in your notebook or even on your private blog.

In my ever so humble opinion.. the not knowing what kind of business you are in is one of the most significant factors that limit your success.

There's an often used phrase.. "If you don't know where you're going you'll end up somewhere else" and, while that paints part of the picture, I offer you yet another phrase: "If you don't know why you're going, you're unlikely to arrive".

So, when you really think about the business that you want to build, consider this..

The most successful businesses (online or offline) have one very important factor in common.. They build relationships.

Yes, they build relationships with their customers.

They also have strong relationships with their suppliers and their sales agents.

The stronger the relationships you have with all the people who have an interest in your business, the less likely it is that other factors will influence your success.

Unfortunately, very few people really understand the importance of building strong relationships. I read a book the other day written buy someone who really does "get it".  It's called "The Rapid List Building Formula" which, in my opinion, doesn't do it justice. Chris Rempel, the author, explains why you should focus on building strong realtionships with a targeted group of people rather than follow the so called "experts" who seem to think that the size of your list is everything.

This is a great time of year to plan for the New Year and I strongly recommend that you read "The Rapid List Building Formula" as it will help you to plan for success during next year and the years to come.

This week I invested in a PLR package, I bought a domain name, I set up a hosting account and I went to work on making improvements to the sales copy.

Within the first 24 hours of the site going live I had made over six times my original investment. That's just one small example of how you too can benefit from products with Private Label Rights.

The PLR Supercharged System shows you the exact steps to follow to profit from PLR. The training system includes a PDF action plan and five easy to follow video lessons.. Everything you need to know to leverage your PLR.