Last August, I met a woman at NAMS2 who quietly sat in the back of the room and absorbed everything. I knew she was a sharp cookie just by the questions she asked and the people she hung out with.

Last week, Nicole Dean sent me a note to tell me that I should take a look at Susanne’s Affiliate Niche Packs – they fit right in with my Niche-Mall storefront. (I’m always on the lookout for high-quality products to drop into my mall – hint, hint.)

And she was right; these are excellent. I bought them all. But more than that, I realized Susanne Myers really understood how to find profitable niches. One of the things she includes in her niche pack is a marketing checklist that shows step-by-step how to start promoting in the niche.

So, I ask her to write a guest blog post giving you a lesson in finding your niche. So, I’ll turn it over to Susanne…

Author: Susanne Myers
Affiliate Niche Packs

I’ve attended the last two NAMS events in Atlanta and spend a good bit of time chatting with other affiliate marketers. The question that kept coming up, especially from those just starting out was how to choose a niche that’s PROFITABLE.

Susanne Myers - Affiliate Niche Packs

It doesn’t take long for a beginning affiliate marketer to figure out that broad topic websites and wanting to provide information on everything and anything to EVERYBODY doesn’t work. Most of us quickly realize that choosing a niche and becoming an expert catering to a tight group of people is the better way to go.

The big stumbling block is often what niche to choose. Coming up with niche ideas is easy. Heck I could probably come up with about 50 of them in just a few minutes doing nothing more than jotting down my various hobbies and interests. The hard part is determining which ones have a good profit potential and are worth getting into.

Over the past 6 years, I’ve learned a lot through trial and error and have come up with some pretty good “tests” that I use anytime I’m considering a new niche. While I obviously can’t promise you you’ll be profitable if you apply these tests, they are a good indicator of whether or not a niche is profitable.

Does It Solve A Problem Or Reduce Pain

Think for a moment about what type of information products you have bought in the past. Chances are pretty good that they helped you either solve a problem or reduce pain. Those are both two very strong buying motivators.

Let me give you some examples. If your dog is barking like crazy any time someone walks up to your door, that’s a serious problem. If you came across a little ebook that promised to teach you how to stop this behavior in your dog in just a few days and it was $17, you’d buy it wouldn’t you?

Or let’s say you have chronic neck pain from sitting at the computer too much (I do). If there was a video or a report with some stretches that will help eliminate the pain, I’d be the first in line with my credit card.

Is It Entertaining

If you are not solving a problem, you have got to be entertaining (which in fact solves the problem of being bored). Think about it… If you look at the various information products available, they fall into one of those two categories. You are solving a problem (i.e. chronic back pain, bed wetting etc.) or you are helping keep your customers entertained (i.e. improving their golf game or learning to play the piano).

Is Someone Else In The Same Or Very Similar Market

Once you’ve established that your niche will either help solve a problem or entertain your readers, there’s one my thing I like to test. Make sure someone else is already profitable doing the same (or very similar thing).

There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Chances are that someone else already has tried just about any niche you can come up with. The ones that are profitable usually stay around. How do you find out if there are serious competitors who are already making money in your niche?

My favorite is to use Google and Google Adwords. Google one of the main keywords in your niche and pay attention to the Google ads on the search results page. If you can’t find any ads for paid products for several main keywords, chances are pretty good that this is NOT a profitable niche.

If on the other hand there are several paid products advertised, chances are good that this will be a good niche to try. Don’t forget to visit some of the offers that are advertised and see if it’s something you may want to promote as an affiliate.

To see what I mean, I invite you to take a look at my affiliate niche packs. They are a great shortcut for getting started in any niche. I research each topic to make sure it has a high profitability potential using the steps outlined above and then provide you with the following:

• A niche and target market description
• List of some of my favorite affiliate products available in this niche
• 100 domain name ideas
• 1000+ keywords
• 100 article and blog post ideas
• 15 sample author resource boxes for article marketing
• 2 different step-by-step marketing plans with daily action items
• PLR content available in this niche
• List of tools and service to get you up and running fast

Ready to give it a try? Grab an Affiliate Niche Pack today.

Susanne Myers

P.S. I under priced these niche packs quite a bit for the first few months. I am going to raise the price to $27 on March 15′th . Until then you can get them for $14.97.

Visit the Affiliate Niche Packs today

NAMS was a hair-brained scheme, and frankly I’m a little puzzled how the workshop came to be so popular.

But after watching this video I stumbled across on the web the other day, I finally realize what’s happening.

This is a pretty silly video with a really profound message. It’s only 3 minutes long. Watch it a couple of times and pay attention to the end with the people talking in the background.

The key elements are:

• Leaders
• Followers
• and the Movment

With any good, sustainable business with a life of its own, the Leader embraces the Followers in the Movement and is completely marginalized by the result.

I’d love to hear your opinion about this. Leave a comment below – what do you think?

Man, I was really frustrated this morning.

I had a great farm day planned at my house. My driveway was like a washboard even though we’d put nearly a 120 tons of gravel on it just 3 months ago. Yep, that’s a lot of gravel, but I’ve got a lot of driveway.

My truck – and more importantly, Charlsa’s Jeep – was bouncing all over the drive even though we practically crawl up to the house. And it was only getting worse.

So, I rented a tractor with a box blade and a bucket, and planned to level out the drive myself. How hard could this be, I thought. Just need a blade to drag the drive and all will be well again. And besides, this would be an opportunity to show Charlsa that I really need a tractor to maintain this 95 acre paradise and can justify the $20,000 price tag for my dream machine.

When I reserved the tractor, I had no idea what they would be bringing, but when they pulled in the drive this morning, there it was – The Kubota! The one I’ve been coveting.

So, I jumped in the saddle, cranked it up and began dragging the drive to even out the bumps. But as I made pass after pass, the bumps were becoming waves. The bigger the waves, the deeper the blade cut into the drive. It was getting worse not better. After three hours, driving around my 2500 foot U-drive felt like riding a ship in rough seas – up and down, up and down.

Popping some Dramamine for motion sickness crossed my mind.

And I was getting really upset. This machine cost me $250 to rent for the day. And I’m destroying my drive.

That’s where Mike comes in.

Mike and Daniel are two contractors that are working on screening in my basement patio. When it’s done, we’ll have an old-fashioned southern sleeping porch in the rear of the house overlooking the stream. Mosquitoes will no longer be an issue.

Mike and his partner returned from lunch. Mike walked over to the tractor. I shut it off and the conversation went like this:

Mike: You’re just playing around today, aren’t you?

Mike: I know. It seems wrong, but trust me. The blade is for finishing. The bucket is for fixing.

Within an hour, I had the driveway leveled out. And I was in reverse the rest of the day?

Who knew?

Well, that’s the point of this post. Somebody always knows. And yes, there ARE shortcuts, tips and tricks.

We always suspected there’s a shorter, simpler, faster, cheaper, more efficient way of doing things. Knowing who to ask is the key. That’s why Mark Hendricks is my coach and mentor. Every Monday morning he tells me when I need to go forward or put it in reverse. And sometimes, I didn’t even know there was a reverse. That’s why I need to talk to someone who’s been there and done that before me.

Mark’s my main mentor. Sometimes, I need a specialist. Today, Mike was my mentor – in how to drag a driveway.

At the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop, we bring together about 18 of the top mentors and coaches who will teach more than 150 students in a 3-day intensive. You should use the opportunity to shop for a main mentor.

You’ll find someone with whom you’ll click immediately. Hire them on the spot. Buy their products. Find out what they do and how they do it. The savings in time and money will be well worth it.

By the way, if you haven’t gotten your NAMS4 ticket yet, better hurry. The price jumps $100 Sunday night at 11:59 p.m. EST.

Something big happens on Sunday night.

The fourth edition of the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop jumps to $397. And it will never be lower than $397 again. So if you’re waiting for a coupon – it ain’t happening! We are working our way to $697 or until it sells out.

We currently have 92 seats left.

That seems like a lot. It’s not!

In 28 days since we packed our bags leaving NAMS3 behind, we’ve signed up 93 people. The $297 price will be gone on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. EST. If you have friends, family or subscribers that are waiting for the best price to get in, this is it. And it won’t be this price when they wake up Monday morning.

During NAMS 1, 2 and 3, we used discount coupons to drive ticket sales. People can not count on that any longer.

But I can guarantee this: On Monday, when the price hits $397, NAMS4 will never be lower. That means sign up now or pay a higher price later if you decide to come.

Here’s three very important links for you:

1. NAMS Affiliate Video – watch this to see how to get your EXACT affiliate link.
2. NAMS Affiliate Program sign up page
3. NAMS Affiliate Program log in page

Sell two workshop tickets and you’ve yours is basically free.

NAMS is ever evolving, getting bigger and better. The problem, of course, is knowing how big to get… Obviously, if we could accommodate 1000 people at each event, that would be great for the NAMS faculty and me personally. But would it be good for you? I don’t think so!

So, we’ve found our physical limit – 185 seats.

We’ve negotiated (and will be signing) a two-year deal with the Crowne Plaza in Atlanta for several reasons, but the biggest three are:

• Internet: After stuttered with Internet access at NAMS 1 and 2, they nailed it with NAMS3. Accessing the internet for each person who attends is very important for the workshop. And to accommodate 185 people at the same time is a very complicated technical maneuver in which the Crowne Plaza has invested time and money
• Layout: The hotel is structured really well to accomplish our classroom structure. Frankly, NAMS would be a different workshop facility if we hadn’t joined with the hotel to take over multiple rooms to accomplish what we needed to do
• Price: They give us a great deal on room rates – $94. I’m a Marriott Platinum Plus member with 160 nights in 2009 under my belt. I NEVER get rooms for less than $100

As soon as the contract is completed, I’ll open up the hotel registration site.

So why is the workshop moving to $397 so soon? After all, it’s nearly six months until the NAMS4.

Well, if you’ve been a NAMS-ter for awhile, you’ll have seen a very clever marketing funnel, I believe.

We increased the price as the quality improved and the enthusiastic community grew. The $397 price is still cheap for the quality of the content and the education. It’s also a price point that is very attractive to affiliates. That means more sales and more tickets and more competition to get in which will means the price will continue to go up.

I could easily charge $1997 for NAMS now.

Seminars with NO education value are charging that kind of price and people are paying. But the quality of student and dedication of the instructors is more important to me. We’re building up people as we build up the price. And we prove it with results. Watch the video of Rafael Sanchez.

And you get to participate as an affiliate. See the links above.

At NAMS4, we’ll introduce the monthly version of NAMS that will give students from NAMS 1 through 4 VERY special benefits. But only those who have attended NAMS to that point will get those benefits.

Stay tuned and be sure to come to NAMS4.

Yep, that seems a little harsh. But it’s the truth. Unless you have a domain and some webhosting space where you can put your stuff, you really don’t have much of a web presence.

I love Twitter, Facebook, and all the other social marketing sites. But are you being “social with a purpose”? If you’re not driving your social friends to your own links – your personal webspace – you’re not really building a business.

That’s one of the first premises of online business. The “asset” is in the list. If you’re building a targeted list, you’re building a valuable asset. If you’re not, you’re just treading water.

Why am I bringing this up now? Tomorrow, and every week for the next several, I’m releasing brandable reports to help you drive traffic to the 100% commission products and other affiliate programs available to you such as the next NAMS workshop! But you’ll need a place to park your reports (with your affiliate links embedded) and to collect email addresses to build your list.

If you already have a domain (I have about 500) and hosting, then you still need to watch this short video to see how to take advantage of this special deal on SEO Hosting to get 5 cPanel accounts with 5 completely different IP addresses. That’s important because you can begin building your own hub and spoke traffic systems immediately.

This short video will show you how to create a significant web presence very quickly and cheaply and right. It’s just an introduction, but that may be all you need right now. But watch this space – there’s much more coming your way in the next few days.

Take a look – it’s less than 6 minutes.

Stuff happens fast in the internet world. So, we should be ready to respond. That’s why I’m setting up a couple of last-minute webinar training sessions.

The first is part of an ongoing series I’m starting about profiting from NAMS as an affiliate. Yes, this is late notice, but I wanted to let you get started as quickly as possible.

Discover techniques for profiting as a NAMS affiliate

Wednesday night – that’s tonight – from 9 to 10 p.m. EDT

We’ll focus on setting up and driving traffic over the next few weeks to promote the NAMS4 workshop with your affiliate link.

Register Now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/936117474

A SIMPLE10K formula for quick success…

The second webinar is Thursday night at 8 p.m. EDT.

We’ll dig deeper into the School For Information Marketing Profits – Bob The Teacher’s unique 3 step process for driving simple online income.

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/586889291

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

At the workshop, we arranged with Dr. Mani to create fund for performing open heart surgeries in his pediatric practice in Chenai, India. The deal was simple.

I gave each of the attendees Dr. Mani’s outstanding book called: Think, Write & RETIRE: How To Turn Words Into Wealth – Easily!

If the NAMS3 workshop students donated more than $25 to the Dr. Mani fund, students would get a $300 copy of his home study course. See below:

As David Perdew already told you, anyone at the 2010 NAMS Workshop who donates $25 or more gets a FREE copy of my $297 course, “The Internet Infopreneur System“. That’s GREAT value – but nothing compared to the heartwarming special feeling that comes from having made a child smile!

It was a huge success. But before I let Dr. Mani explain below, just be aware that he’s opening up this opportunity to the entire NAMS community.

I’ll let Dr. Mani tell you what happened:

Sent: Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:36 pm
by drmani

Hi David

Believe it or not, we’re up to $965 in all from NAMS donors.

Sounds good to me. I’d appreciate it if you’d also ask them to help spread word about
the next book launch, for “47 Hearts” on Feb.14th. Details at http://www.47hearts.com

And they can download the ebook version for free, here:

http://www.47hearts.com/new-index.htm

Can’t say how much I appreciate you, David. Thank you. It’s a burst of energy
and adrenaline to come back from surgery and see the donated amount swelling
to the point where it’ll fund ONE MORE operation!

Today’s surgery was #58 sponsored by our Foundation. Rashida is a 12 year old
girl with a hole in her heart (VSD) and is recovering well! Have you seen some of
the smiles on our website? http://www.chdinfo.com/chd-stories/

You (and soon NAMS donors) helped put them there! Thank you

All success
Dr.Mani

It’s so nice to be home.

After 5 intense days in Atlanta for the NAMS3 workshop, I’m ready to take a long nap. The dogs were jumping all over me and the cat even climbed up on my chest for a quick pet before she went outside to keep our house safe from varmints.

Everyone was happy to be going home Monday from the workshop, but no one happier than our new friends from Venezuela!

We put together a 100% commission product on Saturday to give our students an opportunity to sell a brand new affiliate product called Strategies 4 Social Marketing.

It was a live 60-minute panel discussion with Kevin Riley, Willie Crawford, Jeff Herring, Maritza Parra and Joey Smith revealing their secret – and best – tips for driving traffic using social marketing.

We took the mp3, created the sales page in 90 minutes using tools and techniques that we taught studnets, added some great bonuses and started a 24-hour sales contest. Seven people made first-time sales including Rafael Sanchez who killed the competition with 26 sales. See his video below.

Rafael and his wife Luz made the trip from Venezuela.

This was Rafael’s first time selling anything on the internet.

He has no list. And get this – his country doesn’t allow credit card use on the internet. Nor does it allow the use of PayPal. So, he sent his affiliate link and ask his friends in Venezuela to send it to their friends in other countries.

In essence, it went viral on a smaller scale.

Sales started coming in. It was amazing to watch his excitement. When it was over and we were all heading home, I made a video of him talking about the experience. After the video, he asked what he was supposed to do with the $442 that he now had in his PayPal account from his sales.

He thought he was supposed to give it back to us!

He and 24 other people made 112 sales in the 24 hours. Thirty-five of those were from first-time sellers!

NO other internet mareketing workshop is like it. Willie Crawford said, “This was one of the best seminars/workshops that I’ve ever attended.”

All the speakers were raving and the 180 students were exhausted, exhilarated and excited.

Until Monday, Feb. 8th at midnight EST, we’re making available more than 50 hours of audio recordings to the three Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshops – NAMS 1, 2 and 3.  Be sure to check it out here.

Tomorrow, I start packing the stuff I have to bring to the Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop.

I travel a bunch, so I’m pretty good at packing. I never check bags. Even when I fly cross country for a 12-day stay, I’ve got everything I need in my one little carry-on bag.

But this time, I’m loading up a U-Haul trailer and lugging that bad boy the four-hour drive to Atlanta on Wednesday. Some of my items include:

• 100 AA Batteries – Check
• 36 Nine Volt Batteries – Check
• 7 Wireless Handheld microphones – Check
• 3 Wireless Headset microphones – Check
• 3 LCD Projectors – Check
• 3 Computers – Check

and so on and so on…

But I’ve also been thinking about what you need to bring. Here’s my must have stuff:

• coffee, filters and coffee maker (yes, it’s that serious)
• laptop if you have one (you can get by without a computer)
• camera
• business cards
• jacket
• laptop
• notebook / pen for taking notes
• video camera
• bag to bring home your stuff
• zip lock bag to keep all your exchanged business cards in
• comfortable shoes and clothes
• business casual/ not provocative

And then I found out that Nicole Dean has created a comprehensive packing list at her blog site. It’s a little heavy on the wine if you ask me, but okay…

Check it out. It’s much better than my list.

What’s your big goal?

Yesterday, in the article about finding your niche, we talked about fun ways of combining your passion with your expertise.

It was fun. The Prosperity Scrabble game was an especially fun way to get the creative juices flowing. I hope you tried that out. And I hope you’re talking to other NAMS members about how it worked for you in the forum.

I hope you felt a little excited and a little uncomfortable as you tried to imagine your passions and your expertise. You should have seen possibilities that you haven’t seen before.

But today, I want to get serious! Real serious. We’ll start with one very important question…

Why in on Earth are you doing this?

What’s the point?

If you just want to make money, go get a job. If you’ve got a job, focus on doing a better job. We love people who do a good job. If it weren’t for those who do their job well, the big ol’ machine we call The Economy would come to a screeching halt.

But why are YOU so focused on building an independent business that may be risky, hard, and even require some investment? It may even require you to fail a little bit. Success is not guaranteed.

Everyone eventually fails. But how you look at it determines your success. (Topic for another day.)

You better have a Big Reason Why (BRW)you’re jumping into this world. Here’s mine above – one of mine. You’ll meet the other when you register at NAMS3 on Friday a.m. She runs the registration desk for me and much, much more.

It’s easy to say, “Well, I want to make money.” Or, “I’d like to quit my job.” Or, “I want to be able to travel.”

AND THEN WHAT?!

Many years ago, when I had a brick and mortar business, I sat with a coach who ask me that question for nearly four hours. I paid him a lot of money to ask me the same question over and over.

If I came up with an answer like:

“I want to make a million dollars.”

He immediately said, “Okay, it’s done. You’ve made a million dollars. And Then What?”

The question is maddening because it forces you to drill down to your core values and find a purpose for your business quest that goes beyond anything you ever dreamed. Sometimes, it can get way out there, but you’re discovering more about you and what’s important to you.

Ask Kathleen Gage, Mark Hendricks, Kevin Riley,Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins, Denise Wakeman, Jeff Herring…anyone who is on our instructor staff what their BRW is and you’ll find that it usually has nothing to do with business or making money. They’ve discovered a way – their business is the tool – for reaching the ultimate core goal.

In the forum yesterday, I posted a link to the Prosperity Scrabble handout. In that same zip file, you’ll find a handout to help you realize your BRW and ask that BIG question:

AND THEN WHAT?

Talk about your results in the forum or below.