Lynn Terry on Affiliate Marketing, Traffic Generation, and More
When I first communicated with Lynn Terry in January, it was to apologize.
Fortunately, she was gracious. :-)
Lynn runs a great blog over at ClickNewz.com — and we decided to exchange interviews. Keep reading to get Lynn’s take on picking a niche, affiliate marketing, traffic generation, and more.
You’ve been online for 13 years, which I think must be at least a century in Internet years. Why were you drawn to the Internet? How did you first try to make money… and did that project fail or succeed?
LOL – True! I was drawn to the internet back in the 90’s because it was just hitting the scene. I was in my start-up year with an offline brick ‘n mortar business and initially got online to find parts and suppliers.
I immediately took an interest in creating something online. I made my first personal web page on angelfire, then geocities (which I won an award for). A friend of mine introduced me to an email discussion list where women all over the world were talking about online business ideas, and the rest is history as they say! ;)
My first official venture was a web development company, ultimately employing an international web team. I worked with local businesses and nationwide companies to establish a presence on the internet, and to create online marketing plans.
It was a very successful business, and a model that is once again brimming with opportunity and profit potential…
Obviously, 13 years of experience has made you a lot wiser. Give us the short version of how you now pick a niche to start a new online business. Do you pick something you love, something that is commercially viable, or a combination of the two?
A combination of the two is ideal, passion and profit combined. Obviously you can’t monetize a passion that doesn’t have a buying market.
That said, given a choice between two profitable niches, I would go with the one based on my personal interests – even if the other had slightly higher profit potential. Regardless of the numbers, you’ll always do better in a market where you are personally invested.
There are 3 ways to choose a niche like this. It can be based on your professional experience or expertise, a hobby or skill, or it can be something you are interested in learning more about yourself. Perhaps you’re just taking up snowboarding, or starting to collect something, etc.
A new personal interest is always a great niche, as you’re in the research phase yourself. You can really connect with your target market, share resources, conduct case studies, share video and photos, etc.
Do you recommend selling digital products only or physical products too? Why?
I’m a big fan of promoting physical products as an affiliate. While digital products offer a higher commission, physical products see a higher conversion rate. Buyers are less skeptical, often pre-sold, and online product sales are just continuing to rise dramatically every year.
A combination of product types and offers is ideal, depending on your market. If you’re promoting physical products, you can often do that with low-cost (or even free) info products that help your market with the buying decision…
Once you’ve proven a new business idea, do you rely on organic search traffic, paid traffic, or both? How does Adwords figure into the equation?
I am currently using organic search (free traffic from high search engine rankings) as my primary source of visitors. SEO is easy, and it’s free.
I started out using Google Adwords to get targeted traffic, but quickly got annoyed with all of the updates and “slaps” – entirely too high maintenance for me. Especially compared to SEO. PPC requires too much constant attention for my taste.
The model I use is taught by Dan Thies free in his guide at http://www.SEOfaststart.com
I understand you have an Internet marketing blog and a forum. Who are they for, and where can my readers go to check them out?
I have been blogging for about 6 years now, running a discussion forum for online business owners for right at 8 years. Both offer a variety of content & resources for anyone that wants to learn more about marketing their business online, or starting an online business.
You’ll find the forum at http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/members/ and my blog is http://www.ClickNewz.com. There is active cross-over between the two, and it’s a great community. If you stop by, be sure to leave a comment on the blog or post an intro at the forum – I’d love to meet you!
If you enjoyed this interview, make sure you check out my interview over on ClickNewz: 3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Online Business
