I recently saw this question on an internet marketing forum. The writer was specifically looking for responses from ‘successful internet marketers and veterans’ to see what they would do if they had to start out from scratch again. I thought it was a really good question for a newbie to ask.

Most people spend years becoming truly successful online and most will have made every mistake known to man to get there so asking them what they would do if they had to start again from scratch is an ideal question.

Interestingly enough, all of the responses were different. So what does that say?…well, to me it simply says that there are plenty of ways to make money online. How wonderful is that?! You don’t need to worry if it will work or not because once you find a system or method that suits you; it WILL work if you keep at it. Persistence is the key with this business but most people don’t have it in them to keep at it until they do eventually succeed. And they keep buying the next “big thing’ hoping it will help them make money overnight, and of course that doesn’t work for them either because they don’t put the time in.

So let’s look at some of the responses to that post to see what some of the ‘successful’ internet marketers would do:

1. ‘Create your own product’– in other words, write your own ebook, create a membership site, create and sell your own WordPress theme, build a plugin etc. Now prior to us releasing our ebook we wouldn’t have put much stock into this one but I can say with hand on heart that this is one that I would recommend, to someone with experience on the web. However, for someone new to it all, it’s not an easy one to start with and personally I wouldn’t suggest it to someone brand new on the internet. Others may disagree on that one but I really think you need to know the basics on how to build a website and how to market a product on the internet before you get into something like this.

2. ‘Give value in everything you do’ – now I love that response because that has become our philosophy. If I were starting again I would make certain that I have that line floating around in my head instead of ‘How can I make money online’.

3. ‘Approach article marketing differently’ – basically this poster said that he wouldn’t have wasted his time posting to Ezine etc and instead would have created a relationship with a couple of authority sites and submitted his articles to them exclusively. Personally I wouldn’t just stick to one or two but the basic idea is there. If you can get your articles on authority sites or blogs that relate to your niche then you will be streets ahead of the rest of those who simply submit to article directories.

4. ‘Create an email list’ – this one was a common response. This is the one thing we have been a bit slow to take on although that is changing now. If you have a nice list of people who follow the same things you follow then you can promote products to the list and make money that way. One of the main advantages of a list is if your websites suddenly disappeared overnight then you will still have a following of people and it won’t take long to get back up and running.

5. ‘Create a plan’ – as the poster said, most newbies don’t have a plan or a set of goals – all they think about is the money. Setting goals is extremely important. We have a roll of butchers’ paper that we roll out and write our plans, ideas, and goals. And we do this at the very least once a week. Its not set in concrete, we can make adjustments to suit what is happening but by doing this we always know exactly what we need to do in the coming days, weeks and months.

6. And finally my response to the question was that if I were starting out again I would create only one website instead of many and would create 5 really good product reviews for that site using Amazon products. I would then spend 80% working on getting traffic and backlinks to those 5 pages and the other 20% of my time writing informational type articles to add to the site. That’s all I would do. Nice and simple and this is the one method that I know absolutely works.

FINALLY RELEASED - Our complete guide to making money online by promoting Amazon products. Head over to the AMAZONIAN PROFIT PLAN website for all the latest info.

This is a post that we actually send out to one of our email lists but we thought it was worth while posting to our blog here as well as it is a question we get asked regularly. Our answer to that question is always the same: NO. Actually we say it a lot nicer than that but that in essence is our response.

Why?…well for a couple of reasons actually. The first is the age old problem of people copying the site. We’ve had the experience of people not only copying individual pages but also in some instances copying the whole site. And although the old adage says ‘being copied is the greatest form of flattery’ when it comes to the internet, this doesn’t hold true. Copying our site doesn’t help anyone and no one benefits, not the person copying our site and certainly not us.

The other reason is that we have made so many mistakes in the past that giving someone one of our websites to look at will only result in them making the same mistakes we did. I have already read reviews from people who have obviously copied the format of some of our reviews. Unfortunately the particular format they copied didn’t work for us and I know it won’t work for them either.

Then there are others that attempt to follow our site structure because they found one of our websites and think they should structure it the same way. They are wasting their time because the site structure has very little to do with our success. We have sites structured in all sorts of different ways and the reviews still work regardless of how the site is structured.

And one more reason that we don’t give out our websites is that we are forever testing different things. We might try an Amazon plugin out for example. And because we are trying it out, it doesn’t mean that it is actually working for us, but people who visit the site may assume that because we are using that plugin then they should do the same.

What made this all work for us in the end wasn’t how our sites were structured or the plugins we used, the niche we chose,  or whether we used a blog or a html site – what worked was creating quality reviews and working our butts off getting traffic to those reviews.

We want you to be thinking in the same way. Just create a fantastic content for your site and spend the rest of your time getting traffic/backlinks to that content. That should be your primary goal. You don’t need to see our websites for this to work. You don’t need to see anyone’s website for this to work. You simply need to focus on your website, provide value and work on getting traffic.

Well it’s certainly been an absolutely amazing week. We are so glad that our ‘Amazonian Profit Plan‘ ebook has finally been released, and the response has been quite overwhelming, which makes all the time and effort to get it finished, well worthwhile.

A great big thank you to everyone who provided such wonderful feedback. We are still getting through the questions so don’t be concerned if you haven’t had a response, you will be hearing from us fairly soon.

It’s also nice to finally get some time back for our business. For those that have read the ebook, you will know that we focus on five product reviews at a time and we had developed another five a couple of months ago. The only problem was that we didn’t have much time to focus on them as we were spending most of our time on the ebook. So we will be starting back on those in the next couple of weeks as things  quieten down a little.

We will also be getting back to our regular posts so you will see the first of those in the next day or so…Wanda is working on a blog post as we speak.

And finally for those that have been asking about an affiliate program for the ebook, it is ready to go, and here is – the Affiliate Program Link.

We still haven’t had a chance to get any banners created as yet, so there are only text links available for the moment. However,  those of you who are regular readers to our blog will be aware that we tend to find that text links work way better than widgets or banner ads.

If you have any questions about the Affiliate Program please contact us here.

This is just going to be a fairly short post to let everyone know that the ebook is finished. We have just released it to our email list and I have to say that we are quite overwhelmed with the fantastic feedback we have received so far. We were trying to deliver something worthwhile so from the comments received, we think we achieved it.

So it  is now ready to be released to the rest of the world – if you are interested please click on the link below. We are offering the ebook at a discounted rate for the next 72 hours after which the price will be going up.

The ebook includes our complete blueprint for making money online by promoting Amazon products. You will learn our criteria for choosing products that convert, how to write a product review from start to finish and you also get to see an actual finished example. And we will also detail our main method for getting traffic to our reviews.

It includes step-by-steps for everything so you won’t be left thinking what to do next. This is 75 pages of solid information.

Click the link for the Amazonian Profit Plan

Continuing on from our last blog post, today we are going to go through how to include a story in your product reviews. The reason we add a story is that it makes the story more interesting and entices the reader to continue reading. Let’s put it this way, which version do you find more interesting?

This one:

“Today I am going to review the iPod Touch. This has just been released by Apple and is the equivalent of the iPhone without the phone. This makes it perfect for those who don’t need another phone or want to sign up to a phone plan.  The features of this great little device are extensive and I will be going through each of them today.”

Or this one:

” When Wanda and I were in the US attending a conference, we happened upon the Apple Store in New York. If you’ve ever been there you’ll know what an experience that is, but we happened to be there the day after the iPhone was released to the world, actually we were on a hop on hop off tourist bus and when the guide pointed out the iPod store – we hopped off. Well, what can I say, we were hooked, but unfortunately we couldn’t buy one because they wouldn’t have worked back home in Australia. It was only later when the iPod Touch was released that we ended up buying one of those instead and we are so glad we did.”

The first one is okay but I much prefer the second one. I know I would keep reading to see what happens next.

Weaving a story into a product review lightens up the post and makes it more readable. It also lets the reader know that you are a real person and most people love reviews written by real people.

But what do you do if you don’t have a story?

First of all, you don’t need to have a story for every single product review you write. We have hundreds of reviews online and believe me, they don’t all have a story. But when we do have the opportunity we use a story. And that means when we have a real life story to use.

So we don’t recommend you making one up. You want your readers to trust you. If they see a whole lot of different stories on different reviews on your website they are going to start to get a little suspicious and the trust factor will disappear in a flash.

The story about me and Wanda in New York was 100% accurate. We did get off the bus to check out the Apple store as we really wanted to see the iPhone and we did end up buying an iPod Touch when they were eventually released in Australia.

But let’s assume that didn’t happen and I don’t own an iPod Touch. What I would do is try and create a story out of my personal feelings for the product or those of family and friends.

For instance:

• my opinion of the iPod Touch before I purchased it was that it looked like a lot of fun and I really had to have one
• a work mate at my last full time job loves gadgets and discussed this product with me a few times
• I know my niece would love one of these if she saw it in action

So that’s just three simple (truthful) statements that relate to me and family and friends. Now I take those statements and see if I can create a story from one or all of them. Just remember that a story doesn’t mean making something up – it simply means making the product review more personal.

So my opening paragraph for my review might sound like this:

“My nieces birthday is coming up and I have been thinking about what to get her. I am a real fan of gadgets and I know she is too so I thought that perhaps an iPod Touch might be a good choice. I personally want one of these myself so may just end up buying two but either way I think it might be a great gift. So because I never buy anything without doing the research, I’ve spent a considerably amount of time checking them out to see if they are actually worth the money. Here’s what I found out…”

You can see how I took something as simple as one statement about a family member and created a story from it.  It’s only a couple of sentences of personal stuff but it gets the reader in and interested in what I have to day.

Here’s another version:

“In my last job, I had a work mate who loved gadgets. Since I am the gadget queen we would speak extensively about the latest devices and gizmos. One gadget that came up often in our discussions was the iPod Touch.  This is one amazing little device. Some call it the iPhone without a phone and that is essentially what it is. It can pretty much do everything the iPhone can do except make a phone call or take photos. This means the iPod Touch is cheaper and you don’t have to sign up to any lengthy phone plans. I like that!”

For the rest of your review you can just get on and talk about the product and its benefits and if you like throw in a few personal touches as you go. For instance:

• “I really like this feature”
• “I really like how the iPod Touch has a wifi function so you can connect to the internet and email when you are out and about.”
• “This isn’t a feature I would use but I know others would find it super convenient”
• “When my friend spoke about this, he mentioned that…”

Making your reviews more personal really does improve conversion rates so take a little extra time if you can to come up with something to suit your product review.

Just recently we were left a comment from a reader wanting to know a little more about how to write product reviews when you don’t actually own the product.  We thought that this was a really good question and impossible to answer in just a few sentences.

We’ve written hundreds (and maybe even thousands) of product reviews over the years and since we aren’t multi-millionaires…yet, we couldn’t possibly buy each of those products to review. What we’ve done however is learned how to write them in a way where we don’t need to own the product.

We don’t have to lie and say we have actually personally reviewed the product or make things up but we can still end up with a top quality review that is helpful to the reader.

So for starters, let’s take a look at the actual question that was asked:

I just like to know how you would write a review of a product which you haven’t owned or used. I have been wondering about it for quite some time now. Rather than just saying… “Most customers who bought this product find it…” how would you structure it.

In another of your post, you mentioned adding your own story as the introduction to make your review more interesting. But that will be quite difficult if you haven’t used the product yourself. Any advice would be most helpful.

Essentially there are two questions being asked here but we will start with the first. The key to writing product reviews when you don’t own the product is to do your research.

Now I can just see some of your switching off already thinking that this is going to mean a bit of work. I won’t lie to you, this will require you to get in there and learn as much as you can about the product. But stay with me here because you need to remember that you only need a handful of pages to make a full time income. Spending a day researching a product and writing a good product review can result in years of recurring income. So for those that still work full time think about a days work in your current job. What do you get from that one day of work in terms of income? Yep that’s right, you get one day of pay…that’s it! You are never going to get any more than that. Which means you have to head back to work the next day to get that same amount of money. With a product review, you only need to spend one day working on it and then if all goes to plan you can potentially receive a recurring income for years to come.

Researching means reading everything you can about the product – read the Amazon product page and the reviews, find the manufacturers website and read about the product there, find any other website that refers to that product and keep reading. This shouldn’t take any more than a couple of hours. While you are researching you should be taking down as many notes as possible.

Once you have this information it becomes a lot easier to write about the product when you don’t own it….it’s almost as if you do own it when you have this level of detail. But that still doesn’t answer the question on how to actually structure the review. Well it’s actually a lot simpler than you might thing. It really comes down to how you word your sentences.

Let’s just go with an example to see how this works. I’ll use the iPad as an example. Now we both own one of these and just love them so we could easily write a review about it. However our review would sound a lot different to what it would sound like if we didn’t own one. Here’s how they might differ:

Version 1: I Own the Product

What I really love about my iPad is that I no longer need to lug a big heavy laptop with all its heavy cords and cables with me when I am traveling.  The iPad measures approximately 10in by 8in and it literally fits into my handbag so I have done away with my laptop bag. It’s small but not too small that I have to squint to see the screen and is light enough and compact enough that it makes traveling a breeze.

Version 2: I Don’t Own the Product

You will no longer need to lug a big heavy laptop with all its heavy cords and cables when traveling. The iPad measures approximately 10in by 8in and will literally fit into your handbag or briefcase. You can finally do away with having to carry around that extra laptop bag. It’s small but not too small that you have to squint to see the screen and is light enough and compact enough that it makes traveling a breeze.

Notice how I am saying pretty much the same thing but in a very different way. Let’s try another example:

Version 1: I Own the Product

I’ve downloaded a multitude of applications since purchasing my iPad. This is what makes the iPad so great – without the apps, the iPad would just be a glorified laptop. I’ve downloaded games, magazines, recipe apps, books, weather apps, to do lists, project planners, office apps, utilities and so much more.

Version 2: I Don’t Own the Product

You can download a multitude of applications for your iPad. This is what makes the iPad so great – without the apps, the iPad would just be a glorified laptop. You can download games, magazines, recipe apps, books, weather apps, to do lists, project planners, office apps, utilities and so much more.

You can see how you don’t need to say you own the product to write a good review. It’s simply how you word those sentences. It basically means using ‘You’ instead of ‘I’. But don’t overdo it. You don’t want to have a review full of sentences that start with ‘You’.  So also include the word ‘It’ or the product name itself or other similar words. For example:

• “It has a load of features including…”
• “One of the best features is…”
• “The iPad has a load of features including…”

Just keep wording your sentences using this sort of style and you should find it a lot easier to write reviews even if you don’t own the product.

So now to the second question…. Writing a story to go with your review is a great way to get readers to keep reading so it’s a tip you should all try to learn if you are going to write good product reviews.  Unfortunately however we’ve run out of time and this post is already getting way too long. But stay tuned as we will answer it in our next post.