Recent events, meaning this past year have been, well, trying to say the least for me which has lead to me not being able to keep posting in here with my latest tips n tricks. I deeply regret this as I truly loved the response I was getting from local webmasters and webmaster-in-the-making.

Here’s the problem. When I began running websistes overs 5 years ago now, I origianlly planned to just run some of my own websites, learn how to make them successful and reep the rewards. Sounded simple, but it truly takes alot of work and always being up on top of all the “geek” news to keep your sites successful. But then something totally unexpected happened to me….I started getting others asking me to do work for them.

I never expected I would be taking on clients to build their website and help with SEO, markieting etc but it did. So my life went from simply running my own websites to being over worked with clients of my own. I apologize for letting this happen and therefor neglecting my own websites.

My current wake-up call was the new google PR update that was a few weeks ago now and seeing all my sites (this blog included) take some major hits. For the first time I will agree with Google that most of my sites have truly been neglected and its time to get me back on track.

I hope to start decreasing my client commitments and get back to running my own internet empire. I truly love doing my client work, but I also loved having my own websites to run, tinker with and find out how to get them more and more popular.

I truly is a challenge, no matter how long you’ve worked online to keep up with new techniques and marketing plans, but I still love it. I hope some of you have begun your own websites, and even more, I hope to hear your success stories.

Stay tuned for more…I will be back soon with some new tips and news you should know to keep your websites profitable!

Everywhere you go online, you hear the same thing – You must find a niche for your business. If you are new to Internet Marketing, this is advice you will do well to pay heed to.

Every day thousands more people come online in search of wealth. Many jump right into the markets that are already completely saturated and then wonder why they are not making any money.

Given unlimited time, money and patience, they might succeed. For those that do not have unlimited supplies of these precious resources, aiming for a smaller niche market can be a much smarter way to start your online business.

So just what is a niche?

If you want the long answer, you can buy any one of the thousands of e-books being sold online about niche markets. You can go to a dictionary and see what definition of niche it gives. But the short answer is niche simply means distinct or individual.

Everyone and their mother wants to start a business focusing on Internet Marketing. This is how the big guns are making all their money, so it must be the way to go. That is the problem. The market is totally saturated with people who have years of experience in this area. A new person trying to compete in such a broad market does not have much chance of success.

On About.com, Susan Ward defines Internet Marketing as “the strategies that are used to market a product or service online, marketing strategies that include search engine optimization and search engine submission, copywriting that encourages site visitors to take action, web site design strategies, online promotions, reciprocal linking, and email marketing”. A new person coming online to start a business has little chance of knowing enough about all the above areas to be able to compete in this market.

So how is a new person to have any chance at success?

Thing Smaller – Think Niche!

Just from the above definition you can come up with the following pieces or niches:

Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Copywriting
Web Site Design
Promotion
Linking
Email Marketing

Even if you are lucky and are extremely experienced already in one of the above niches, you will still have a lot of competition in such broad niches. This may be what you decide to do in the end, but at least be willing to explore niches within the broader areas. You may find a niche you are much better suited to.

When it comes to finding a niche market, the best resource available online is Wordtracker. You can find pieces of this program on different sites and software programs but Wordtracker brings everything together in one place for those trying to find a good niche to go into.

Using Wordtracker is a breeze. If you want to break Internet Marketing down to many more niche markets, just type in Internet Marketing and look at all the ideas that pop up. Each of these can become keywords that you decide you want to focus your niche on. Or you can pop in those keywords and keep defining your niche.

Using Wordtracker, what you will end with is a list of niche keywords that you can focus your Internet business on. Having a smaller niche will give you a much better shot at being successful then trying to build a site around a broad topic like Internet Marketing.

Remember, success in any business always comes back to supplying a product that the public has a demand for and that the market has room for. Find the right niche and you are on the right path.

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Ian Del Carmen is an online business professional running his main site at http://www.ianDelCarmen.com. His other sites include http://TheOnlineBusinessProfessional.com, http://MobileEbooks.net, http://InfoProductLaboratory.com, and many more…