My Favorite Online Business Models
June 13th, 2008 by MarkOn Monday when I posted about preparing to pursue internet marketing full-time, I got a series of questions about what my favorite business model is. I started to reply to a couple of the comments, but before I got very far I realized it’s not a very easy question to answer.
I’m kind of a business junkie anyway so asking me to name my favorite business model is like asking a chubby person to name his favorite flavor of ice cream. It’s not easily done.
I’d rather not tell you my favorite business models, and give the impression that my preferences define what is best for you. I think I’d do you a favor by telling you how I think you should choose a business model for yourself. The best way to do that is probably to look at the elements of business models you see used on this site, and pick which of them would be the best fit for your personality.
At the core of every business is the single question: Which of its core activities are most closely related to making money? Let’s answer that question in terms of business models you’re seeing on this site. You’ve seen us talk about Niche SEO, Flagship Blogging, BANS (via Vic), and you’ve also seen Court offer his own personal coaching services.
Activities Most Closely Tied to Income:
Niche Site Creation:
- Keyword Research and Selection: the ability to consistently find new niches to target is key to success and income with this strategy.
- Link Building: Niche SEO is all about Google traffic, and Google traffic is all about quality content and links.
*I’m no authority on BANS, but the reading I’ve done on Vic’s site tells me that it’s all about keyword selection and links, just like niche SEO.
Flagship Blogging:
- Content Creation: as I’ve been part of Court’s Internet Marketing School I’ve seen his name and audience explode as he has found something he can teach (with authority) that solves a real problem for a lot of people (actually achieving rankings on Google and making money off those rankings). If you can write content that achieves the same thing, you’re on your way to doing what Court (and many others) have done.
- Networking: when this blog was new, I remember Court commenting on 50 or 60 blogs per day, sending emails introducing himself to people, and making friends like crazy. At the time I didn’t get why he was doing it. Now it’s pretty obvious right? Flagship Blogging is about people knowing who you are.
Being known and having problem-solving content will bring links, traffic, and subscribers, and income.
Coaching and Consulting:
- Flagship Blogging: Yes it sounds odd, but the entire Flagship Blogging model fits right inside the Coaching and Consulting Model. At least it should in my opinion. I used to work for a coaching company that sells its services to people without creating a relationship of familiarity and trust first. My take is that this sets up the client to always doubt what is being taught. If you successfully create a Flagship Blog first, you’ll position yourself to give your personal clients real value because they’re learning from someone they know and trust.
- Interacting with Clients: Court spends a few hours each week on the phone with our personal clients. He really enjoys it (mostly because we’ve been lucky to work with nothing but high caliber, hard-working people). He also responds to emails answering our students’ questions. Interacting with our students via phone and email are the core of the model.
Which Of These Activities Appeal Most To You?
Whichever model you pursue, you need to understand that successful businesses are highly repetitive in nature. You should pursue the business whose core activities best fit your personality and preferences. If you can’t see yourself performing these activities day in and day out for an extended period, without becoming miserable, then that model isn’t for you.
Court has been coaching people one-on-one for years now and he really enjoys teaching and building relationships with his students. I’ve been doing keyword research and building links for over two years now, and I’m far from sick of it. That’s why these models work for me and for Court.
Which models and activities appeal to you and why?
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June 13th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I really like the keyword sniping model. This is my first attempt at it and the CTR is really good on this site, although traffic is still pretty low. I’m working on it though and learning a lot! Thanks, Mark!
June 13th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Bans is by far my number one producer, as an advertiser on this site , I follow regularly, I am a full time marketer now and my model is a bit of all the above, links links and more links
June 13th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
You know Court, I think the quality of your blog has decreased since you started having others write content for you. I vary rarely read anyone else’s posts but yours. Just a thought…
June 14th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
So you don’t read the other posts, but believe that they aren’t of high quality? Hmm, you might want to think about that logic…
June 13th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Mark,
While I have tried all the above models at least a bit, I started off with a flagship blog. However, I am currently obsessed with keyword sniping. I finally found a killer niche and was able to follow Court’s sniping methods to really start doing well with it. Now that I’ve done it once, I realize how easily duplicable it is.
I’m also a big BANS fan and, as you said, keyword sniping works great with BANS. In fact, the marketing checklist I developed for when I start a new site works equally well with BANS and regular Adsense/Yahoo! keyword sniping.
Nice conversation starter, Mark!
Thanks,
Sara
P.S. Note to Court: my regular reading of your blog hasn’t changed a bit since you’ve brought on other writers. I think bringing in other perspectives and skill-sets just increases the blog’s appeal without going off topic. Just my two cents.
June 13th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I am trying the keyword sniping and I am excited to see it start working. I am moving up the charts for my keyword and seeing my clicks start to increase. I have a few other niches ready, now I just gotta do it. I haven’t tried BANS. I do have an idea for a flagship blog, but first things first.
As for guest bloggers, I really enjoy Mark and Monika’s posts. Mark, your post on the reading list (keyword sniping,adsense from grizz) a couple weeks ago was especially helpful for me. I try to read those posts you listed at least a couple times a week, if not more.
Medic
June 13th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Big fan of BANS, I actually dropped Court a line asking if he’d adapt the Dateless Sniper theme to BANS recently.. here’s hoping he does it
June 14th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Huge advocate of KW Sniping and and using phpBay Pro (similar to the BANS concept but works as a plugin for WP) to make money through EPN (Ebay Partner Network). The great thing about phpBay is that you can incorporate the same methods as in KW sniping to get better rankings in the SERPs.
I strongly feel that the concepts we learn here do work and requires us to stay positive and not get discouraged, be persistent and most importantly, be patient.
I personally read every article that either Court, Mark or Monika posts on this site because they all provide very unique and useful information that we can all benefit from in one way or another!
Sal
June 14th, 2008 at 8:09 am
I remain an avid reader.
Every article is food for thought.
June 14th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Obviously, I favor the blogging module. I think it presents great opportunities for reliable traffic and more. I also like the BANS model though, great post here… definitely something to look at!
June 14th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Flagship Blogging is a great way to establish the trust needed to attract clients for coaching practices or any other “intangible service style sale”. Building trust is essential in making these types of sales and flagship blogging is a great way to build that trust.
Mark, glad to see you’re in Court’s corner now!!!
June 14th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
I prefer to make tools for solving a problem of my own (I am a programmer :p) . And I see many others have the same problems. Of course this needs to supported by quality content and needs to all of keyword research and link building to make it popular. But I am not a fan of ‘ONLY content’ :p
June 16th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Currently I’m still stick with Google Adsense and another PPC ads. However, Now I try to make Keyword Snipping Blog using Court’s Keyword sniper theme. I found a great niche and want to try it. Wish me some luck
June 16th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Hey Mark,
another nice post.
I look at these models as
1. niche- keyword sniping
2. BANS- as niche
3. flagship blog
4. membership sites
5. e-commerce site
I hope you keep posting these high quality ones.
I read all three- court, mark and monika. Each bring different flavors.
thanks.
June 17th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Hi Mark!
Most of us (Court’s Readers) are not too bad at following the guidelines you guys are laying down, but we don’t have the ability to think outside the square and see ways of applying these principles to other areas.
It would be wonderful if the team here could give us a pointer or two about how to discover niches outside the MMO box that a lot of us seem to be in.
We are all (except for one lone opinion above in the comments) grateful for the incredible input you all have!
June 17th, 2008 at 6:59 am
Flagship blog is on the top of my list because I am looking to build a business.
I’ve done consulting before but it took too much time away. I was selling my time for money.
I also like the affiliate model and combine that with the flagship blog model in another blog.
June 17th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Rhys,
I know what you mean. It took me a long time to get past MMO as well. I would look at the top searches for search engines, places like “hot AOL searches” (it’s straight from AOL and they’ll even send a newsletter every once in awhile. NicheaDay.com sends out a hot niche + keywords each day. Also both pulse.ebay.com and buy.ebay.com show top searches and purchases at Ebay.
That should at least give you a start. I’m actually working on a post for my blog about this exact topic right now so you picked a good time to ask. =)
Sara
June 20th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Mark,
In your experience does the keyword sniping model work well for doing affiliate marketing as well as PPC?
June 21st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I like Bans and I like flagships for completely different reasons. Just wish I had more time for them all.
Question - How hard/feasible is it to submit Bans sites to Directory sites? Do they get accepted? Are there some that we should not waste our time with? I don’t want to get banned from submitting to legit directories.
Thanks for a great blog.
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 am
VGG -
I haven’t had any trouble getting BANS sites into free directories as long as you create a reciprocal link. I just created a “links” page on each of my BANS sites so I can add the reciprocals there. It’s an extra step, but worth it to get the site seen. =)
Sara
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:12 am
thanks Sara
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:16 pm
You can submit BANS to any and all directories that have a category for the niche, BANS sites are the same as any other quality website and there is absolutely no penalties associated with it.
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Hi Mark,
Great answer!. I am doing a few of those models and I, like Sara, love KW snipping! It really works!
Thanks for the info!
July 24th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
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October 2nd, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Hi,
I read your “Content Is King” which mentions “Keyword Sniping” and still haven’t been able to figure out exactly what it is OR why their site is closed? It seems to be helping everybody, but what is it???
Thanks
January 19th, 2010 at 8:19 am
Yes, this is a very valuable work, and now I see how it takes time and dedication but like everything in life is not easy, I’m making the effort to not be in vain.
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