Challenges in bold:

Finding a niche that hasn’t been done to death and coming up with sufficient material to make a great product for that niche.

You dont’ need to find a niche that hasn’t been done to death, find one that you are interested in.  For example, I work in the fields of wealth creation, internet marketing and working from home.  One could argue that they have been done to death, but I feel I have something to add and offer and the bonus is that these markets are self renewing.  There will always be more people coming through who want good products or services.

You don’t need to come up with sufficient material, find good stuff that you rate that has been created by other people and market that in return for a decent commission.  You get started a lot more quickly that way.

Mastering Google adwords without spending a fortune.

I mastered Google adwords using two books (recommended on the client resources page, and the Google tutorials.  Total cost around $150.00.  Always set a daily budget so that you can’t overspend by accident while you are learning!

Can I get going with very little or no money as capital?

(and on a similar line)

What kind of investment (besides the cd course) should I plan to make in order to get it off the ground and bringing in some income?

First of all the AMM Home Study System is not a CD course!  It’s a view online / download / listen to course.  Why create real physical products when it can all be done online - more profitable and more instant for your customers.

I would estimate that you can start with as little as £100 / $200.  You will need:

A domain name

Hosting

An email account

Frontpage 2003 (can buy on ebay for about £50 / $80

A TotalBusinessCart account (see the links on the client resources page)

A PayPal account

Some ebooks to learn the basics from

How do I transfer my knowledge into an ebook or ecourse earning passive income?

Dictate it into a dictaphone and get it transcribed then edit it or….

Mindmap the content and then write it in chunks, create an ecourse then an ebook or…….

Get someone to interview you on the telephone and record it as an audio download or CD set…..

How to get sufficient ‘hits’ to get a good ROI in as short a timescale as possible?

Your ROI (return on investment) will depend on what you invest in terms of money AND time (as time is money).  If you invest £100 / $170 and your product retails at £25 / $85 then you need 4 sales to break even.  To get four sales you will need approximately 4000 - 8000 unique visitors to your site.  You should also be capturing the names and emails of at least 10% of them, so that next time round, you can market to those people for free. The timescale will depend on your ad budget.  If you want to get those 4000-8000 people to your site as quickly as possible then you may want to bid more per click to get your ad up higher on Google.  If you prefer to limit your spend, then it will take longer.

How to monetise the opportunity presented me at the World Internet

Summit

as quickly as possible, and how to use my other 2 domains I’ve secured to further that too: www.internetsuccessstories.co.uk - and www.internetmarketinggurus.co.uk

Hi Simon and congratulations on being the winner! We are delighted you have joined us in the AMM Group.

My strategy for you would be as follows, as I know you have to wait for the official handover of your shopping cart.  Remember, always ask how you can give value before you attempt to make money from your list.

1.  Blog about your experience and what you have done since the World Internet Summit UK 2006, on your blog

2.  Ask the

WIS

boys to send out a short broadcast for you (which you will write) giving your mailing list the URL of your blog that we set up for you

3.  Start mailing

UK

based "guru’s" to ask them to give you an hour of their time, and interview them on the telephone and record it. 

Ask the

WIS

boys for a name/email signup box bit of code from your shopping cart (or lift it from your existing site <grin>), and create a one page "squeeze page" site on www.InternetMarketingGurus.co.uk. 

Make the thank you page somewhere people can come and listen to the interviews for free.  You build a list, a relationship with folks just starting out, and you are giving value.

4.  The domain you won at

WIS

was www.MyBurningQuestion.com wasn’t it?  If you want to develop another product for that site, so that the affiliates you signed up at WIS have something else to mail their lists, then send out an email to each of the guru’s from WIS and ask them what, if they were starting out again, their one burning question would be now!  Then turn it into an ebook.  See if the best of them would consent to being interviewed around their question for half an hour or an hour, and turn it into audio products.

How do i start?i don’t have a business at the moment but i do have a few ideas

(and on the same lines)

I don’t have a product - what do I need to know to chose one.

(and on the same lines)

Is there a market on line for my latest business idea?

Brainstorm, ask your friends and relatives, more brainstorming, and then research how hot each niche is by using http://inventory.overture.com to see how many thousands of people are searching each month on each term.  You then multiply by 5 as Overture is only one of the "big five" search engines.  If all the relevent terms added together and multiplied by five equals between 30,000 and 100,000 then you have a potential niche. 

Any more and it’s too broad, narrow it down.  For example, cats would be too broad, but manx cat may not be.

Copywriting?

We recommend some inexpensive tools on the client resources page once you join the AMM Home Study System, to help you write the copy for your site depending on whether it’s a brochure style site (www.TheMoneyGym.com / www.AutomatedMarketingMachine.com ) or a one page sletter.generatorsoftware.com/x.php?af=423573">sales letter site, and we can also recommend some copywriters at all levels depending on your required style and budget.  Mark Lewin (who is one of this group is very good and very reasonable – aren’t you Mark?)

How do I turn my existing customers (offline) into an online mailing list?

Great question!  I recommend finding your local "club flyer" printing company and getting 10,000 colour postcards printed, and mail your existing list with a compelling offer that they need to come to your website to register for.  A weekend break in a local hotel (you can usually do a deal with the hotel if they know you are mailing 10,000 of your customers!) or a free holiday (we can show you where to get vouchers for free or incredibly cheap holidays online that you can use as prizes). 

Even if you don’t have a mailing list, you can usually buy a CD of local businesses from your local town hall for about £80 - and they include mailing addresses and often email addresses too!  But you mustn’t spam people - just mail them once with a tempting offer and encourage them to come to your site and give you their name and email to enter a great competition or download a free ebook.

What are the best products to sell, with the biggest margins?

The best products are the ones for which there is a demand and the biggest margins is a bit irrelevent if your product isn’t selling.  Internet marketing turns traditional business on it’s head;  which would you rather be selling?  A product with a great margin that nobody wants, or a product with a smaller margin that sells itself and for which there is a relentless demand?  The good news is that, with a bit of targeted, cheap and fast market research (and we can show you how to do that) you will be able to tell before you spend any money!

Strategies For Selling A Service Online that has many facets to it

Keep it simple.  Divide up the facets into three main themes.  Then divide it up again if you have to.  For example, one of our clients offers a site that caters to speakers, events organisers and businesses who provide resources to both parties.  This subdivides down into which kind of speaker, what kind of event, etc., but on each page, we give the visitor just three choices maximum.

On that note, you should only ever give your visitor three choices on each page;  buy now, give us your email or click this button to find out more.

The Tipping Point (great book) says that it’s proven the human brain can only handle 7 things at a time maximum.  I think that, on the internet, that reduced to 3.  Keep it simple at every stage of the game.

What is the difference, when you build a web site for a product rather than a service?

No difference.  People buy from people they know, like and trust so

1.  Build a reservoir of potential future customers

2.  Build a relationship with that reservoir

3.  Add value all the time

4.  Make them an offer (at a low price point)

5.  If they don’t buy, make the offer again till they do (or unsubscribe)

6.  Make them another offer at a higher price point

What internet business could I start up that makes the best use of my particular strengths/talents?

Don’t know - what are your particular strengths or talents?  Keep it clean now <grin>

Also (if I can add another burning - or gently smouldering - question): can I still build an online business starting with minimal computer skills?

(and on a similar line)

Do I need to be a techie wizard to make this work?

Well, yes but it will be more of a challenge.  How minimal are we talking here?  Can you open your email?  Do you have a teenager who could do the work for you if you have the ideas and create the systems?

How to know when an offering is for real and avoid the scams

Phew, that’s a big one.  There are certain names that you can absolutely trust on the internet (jim edwards and Mike Stewart spring to mind) but really, you need to get to know your "gurus" and test them out. Buy a low price item and then work up.  Remember, those sletter.generatorsoftware.com/x.php?af=423573">sales letters are meant to sell and boy!  do the good ones do that well!  Go easy and don’t buy everything you see.

Get busy and have fun, guys!

Q&A brought to you by the Automated Marketing Machine Home Study System