Why Am I Not Making Money Online?

Do you find yourself asking this question a lot? I mean, your working hard, have a nice looking website, your on Facebook and Twitter, but it’s just not happening. Well don’t feel bad. There are a lot of people in the same boat. The truth is that it can be very hard to make money online. But it’s also true that it takes about the same amount of work to make money as it does to not make money. The difference is that the ones making money have first done their homework.


Let’s get back to basics and break it down from the start.  First, what niche or topic are you going to build your business around?  How do you decide?  How do you know that you made the right choice?  Well, with a little research at the beginning, you may be able to get a pretty good idea about where to start.

• Niche Selection: What topics do you know something about and are passionate about? If you are going to be creating blog posts and status updates about something, it’s going to help if you are personally interested in it. So, take some time and jot down a few ideas.




• Keyword Selection: Once you have your list, go to Google and enter the name of your niche and any keywords that pertain to it. Look at the search results to see how many people are searching for your niche and keywords.  Use this to narrow down your original list.




• Competition: While you are checking things out on Google, take note of the competition.  A little competition is good, but too much can mean that you may be fighting a losing battle.




• Marketability: Ok, so you narrowed down your list, you have some keywords, you have checked out the competition, a good start. But, which keywords are going to be your “money” keywords, or which ones will convert your visitors into sales? If you go to the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, and search your keywords, you can get an idea of which keywords may convert by looking at the  ”Approximate CPC” (Cost Per Click).  The higher that number, the more marketable the keyword should be.  You can also look at the trends chart to get an even bigger picture.

Now this may seem like a lot of work…and it is. This initial research is like writing a business plan for your online business.  When done correctly, you should be able to check that you have picked a profitable niche right from the start.

Well, let me tell you about a software tool that I use, that does all of this research and much more.  It allows me to analyze any keyword or niche, to find out if it’s worth the trouble to start the process of building a business around it. This tool is called Market Samurai.  There is a free version that contains the keyword research module only. But the full blown version is simply amazing.  The Rank Tracker and SEO Competition Modules give you more than enough information about your competition and what it will take to compete with them.


The Domains Module helps you to find high quality, keyword rich domains that are available. The Monetization Module enables you to find products and services to promote.  there is even a Promotion Module where you can find high quality back link opportunities.  And there is much much more. Plus they have a series of video tutorials to help you get up to speed very quickly with all of the features.  This is an extremely helpful tool and I would recommend that if you do nothing else, at least sign up for the free Keyword Research version.  Market Samurai will, in the long run, save you time and money.

For me, purchasing the paid version of Market Samurai was like when I first got my DVR at home.  I held off for a long time before I got the DVR, talking myself out of it constantly.  But, once I got it, I wondered what I ever did before I had it. It’s the same thing with Market Samurai.  Check it out, you won’t be sorry.

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