There are many ways to start a business online. You can try your hands in the world of eBay. If you are into gaming, The World of Warcraft and SecondLife can provide you with the opportunity to make a decent living online. Or you can just try to start your own affiliate marketing empire from ground up. Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to start a business without taking on too much risk. After all, you don’t have to own an inventory, and you get to focus on offer promotion instead of finding storage for products and shipping them to your customers. Opportunity.com is an affiliate training system by one of the legends in the online marketing industry, designed to teach newbies and experts how to take their affiliate business to the next level.

If you have been involved in the affiliate marketing industry for a while, you are familiar with the vast number of challenges that a newbie can face on the road to stardom in this business. Opportunity.com provides you with killer business tips to help you get started and avoid mistakes that other affiliates have made in the past. And as a part of this program, you gain access to John Reese’s killer market research. After all, you need markets to try out what you have learned from John, and what a better place to start than with niches recommended by the master himself.

Opportunity.com provides you with 3 services in one package. By using these services you can start an affiliate business from ground up and start making real money online:

• Affiliate training: whether you are new or an expert in the affiliate marketing industry, it is always rewarding when you get to see things through a super-affiliates’ eyes. That’s exactly what you get here.
• Market Research: you gain access to a whole lot of market research material that you can use to dominate any market.
• Affiliate directory: you find out about the hottest affiliate programs on the Internet before anyone else does. So you can start making money while others are still stuck with their old affiliate offers.

Affiliate Training

Affiliate marketing may sound easy to folks who are looking in from the outside but once you get your hands dirty, you realize the challenges involved in this business. Opportunity.com provides you with everything you need to know to make it big in the affiliate business. You just have to take time to do it. Here is what’s covered in the training center:

• Market Research training
• Business task automation
• Business management
• Offer tracking, analysis, and testing
• Affiliate marketing & blogging
• Conversion optimization
• E-mail list management and expansion
• Affiliate marketing and RSS feeds
• Go direct with affiliate programs
• How To Structure Your Business
• Relationship management (with affiliate managers).
• Cloning super-affiliates’ success in any market.
• Affiliate marketing and video
• Drive traffic to your affiliate website
• Reverse engineer others’ affiliate campaigns
• Build a scalable business

There is so much material available on Opportunity.com that you are going to find it hard not to get any value out of this program (no matter how picky you are). What I like about this training system is the fact that it focuses on building a business for long-term instead of focusing on short-term get-rich-quick-that-never-work tactics.

Market Research

The team behind opportunity.com is constantly researching new markets to bring you with offers that you can use to make money online and expand your business. Their research includes keyword research, trend analysis, and affiliate program research. In essence, you are going to know which markets are profitable, what affiliate programs are available to you in those markets, and how to use the latest trends to your advantage to build momentum in your business.

Overall, Opportunity.com is a wonderful affiliate training course that teaches you how to build an affiliate start-up from ground up. You are going to like the fact that it teaches you how to run your affiliate venture as a business and not a hobby. And you are not going around promoting affiliate offers without numbers to back you up. These folks have gotten affiliate marketing down to a science. That means you won’t have to guess and hope for the divine intervention. You can use the tried and tested strategies in this course to take your affiliate startup business to the next level.

If you have been in business for a while or you are just getting started with your start-up, you want to make sure you are having the right business structure that not only allows your business to grow in the short-term but brings enough flexibility to help you make serious business decisions in the long run. There are many types of business structures that you can choose for your business. All of them have their advantages and disadvantages. What you don’t want to do is taking your business structure for granted and leave yourself open to tax, legal, and business liabilities. These are some of the business structures that you can choose for your business:

• C-corporation
• S-corporation
• Limited Liability Company (LLC)
• Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)
• Professional Company
• Non-Profit

I don’t know about you, but I am not a lawyer. I am not a professional when it comes to knowing what structure works best for a business. I can guess, but it is always great to have someone who can guide you through that process. Thanks to Intuit, you don’t have to guess. These guys are the creators of TurboTax and Quicken, but they don’t stop there. They have created mycorporation to help small businesses and startups launch their businesses without too much hassle. Mycorporation helps you file your article of organization or incorporation fast. You can also access to the legal documents that are pre-written for you, so you can use them to develop your own LLC agreement and LLC minutes.

You can also use mycorporation services to take care of trademarks and patents. You can always buy a book to help you do these things, but why spend time doing things that are not related to your core business activities when you can use your time to make money for your business.

What I like about mycorporation is the fact that they help you create your company and stay atop of your reporting requirements at the same time. Most states require you to file an annual report, which means unless you want to deal with late fees and liens against your business, you want to keep up with your requirements. These guys do that for you, and you’ll have one less headache to worry about.

I strongly recommend mycorporation as not only it saves you time, it saves you from reading all kinds of legal books or paying a lawyer $200 an hour to give you an advice. All the information that you need is available, and mycorporation’s customer service walks you through the process. It can’t be easier. And you have the backing of Intuit which should give you the piece of mind that you are leaving your company in a credible hands.

*for a limited time, you can form your corporation or LLC free of charge (+ state fees) on mycorporation.com. This is a very limited time offer, so take advantage of it while you can.

When you start your own business online for the very first time, you are going to soon realize the challenge of getting traffic to your website. You can have the best website on the Web but if you are not getting folks to visit it, you are not going to have much success. Traffic Secrets 2.0 by John Reese is one of the best traffic courses that money can buy. The first Traffic Secrets came out a few years ago, and it was a powerful course. But the second edition is now updated to cover the age of Twitter and Facebook.

The course contains 12 CDs, each filled with techniques you can use to bring traffic to your site. So let’s see what each CD has to offer:

CD #1: Traffic Foundations

The first CD is the shortest one in the series. Not only you learn how to get the best out of the course, but John goes on to explain his philosophy on generating traffic and building business. Some of the concepts explained in this CD are very straight forward, but it’s amazing how many people ignore them on a daily basis. You may be tempted to skip this CD but if you are new to the business of building traffic, you should listen to the third lesson on this CD.

CD #2: Market Research and Discovery

A big part of making money online and monetizing your traffic is getting a firm understanding of your market. In this CD you learn:

• Forum Research: you’ll learn where you need to hang out to gain competitive information in your niche.
• Blog Research: one thing that doesn’t stop in today’s world is blogs talking about things. By knowing where to look, you can gain incredibly valuable information about your niche.
• Article Research: looking at article directories and E-zines to find out what’s going on in your market can give you extremely valuable information about your market.
• Social Media Research: Whether it’s video or social networking sites, you can gain a lot of good info about your market from this new channel.
• Traffic Research: the most powerful lesson on this CD. You’ll learn how to read trends, how to analyze links, how to analyze traffic, and how to automate your tracking process.

CD #3: Keyword Science – The Science of Keyword Research and Discovery

The third CD is all about keyword research. Not only you’ll learn how to use some of the free tools that are available online, you’ll also get familiar with some of the paid tools such as SpyFu and Wordze. You’ll also learn how to use analytical tools to find out where you are getting your traffic from, and how to optimize your pages to get more organic traffic. A lot of folks hesitate when it comes to taking advantage of paid tools, but there is a whole other life after free tools such as Google Adwords Keyword tool. You’ll learn about some of the more popular paid tools and how you can use them to not only generate new keywords, but also spy on your competitors.

CD #4: SEO Dynamics – Modern SEO Strategies

The fourth CD is all about the strategies that you can use to optimize your site for the search engines (on-page & off-page). In this CD you learn:

• How to use LSI Keywords to push your Google ranking to a whole other level.
• What on-page factors you need to pay attention to.
• How to buy domains that will guarantee you a higher spot on the SERPs.
• How to optimize your site structure for search engines.
• How to build links like a pro!
• How to use a CMS and supplement it with a Site-map to create SEO friendly sites fast.
• How to write effective press releases to build links
• How to effectively use Google Analytics for SEO.

CD #5: Content Factory (Long-term Content Strategies)

This is probably the most powerful CD if you are a blogger or the owner of a content site. In this CD, John talks about various ways that you can create magnetic content. Here is what you get:

• Crash Course: a crash course on how to create your very own content factory.
• Methods: methods you can use to produce your very own content.
• Link Bait Strategies: want to be on the front page of Digg or gain lots of links. It’s all covered here.
• Article: how to write and publish your own articles online and gain back-links.
• Casting: creating a podcast is nothing new these days. But if you are not doing it now, you will after listening to this.
• Content Launch: John is a world class expert when it comes to product launches. He shows you how to launch your content too.
• Production: various methods on how to create content are discussed here (including hiring your own writers).

CD #6: Video Marketing

Video marketing is the next big thing in the online world. The rise of YouTube has enabled many folks to achieve stardom, and you can too. But if you are new to video marketing, the learning curve could be steep. Everything video is covered in this CD:

• Crash Course: talks about what kinds of videos you can make, and which ones can help you grow your business.
• Video Analysis: you’ll learn how to perform competitive analysis, and find trends on sites such as YouTube.
• VEO: need to optimize your video for search engines? It’s covered here.
• Distribution: you’ll learn numerous ways to distribute your own videos online. It’s not just YouTube that you have to worry about.
• Hosting: you’ll also learn how to host your videos on services such as Amazon S3.

CD 7: Social Media Strategies

This CD covers almost everything there is to know about the social media. You’ll learn:

• How to use E-mail marketing to develop your own lists.
• How to use Twitter and gather a large following there.
• How to use Facebook effectively to grow your business.
• How to create your own social networking site.
• How to use social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon to drive traffic to your site.
• How to use LinkedIn to grow your business and connect with other professionals in your niche.

CD 8: Adwords Training

There is more to traffic than just SEO and SMO. Adwords is a big traffic driver, and everyone who owns a business should use it (reasonably) to get some exposure. This CD shows you how to do your competitive research, create your campaigns, write magnetic ads, optimize your landing pages to achieve high quality scores, and how to take advantage of the Search and Content network in Google Adwords. You’ll also learn keyword strategies such as keyword matching to improve your CTR and pre-qualify your traffic. Pay per click marketing is costly but you don’t have to pay through your nose if you know how to increase your quality score and create magnetic ads.

CD 9: Advertising Strategies

If you thought that Adwords is the only advertising option you have, you are simply mistaken. There are numerous other options available to you. Traffic Secrets 2.0 covers some more major methods that you can drive traffic to your site:

• Media Advertising
• CPA Promotions
• Blog Advertising
• Email Advertising
• Video Advertising
• Radio Advertising
• More…

CD #10: Create your own Software – Widget

This CD is great if you are looking for out-side-the-box ideas to generate traffic for your site. In essence, you’ll learn how to go about creating a Facebook app, Web 2.0 Mashups, and viral mobile applications. You don’t have to write these yourself. You can always hire a programmer. That topic is also covered here in depth.

CD #11: Affiliate Army

John Reese is a huge proponent of making your product to make money. If you have been lucky enough to go to his events, he constantly talks about how folks need to build their own affiliate marketing program to start making a killing online. This CD covers everything you need to know to launch your affiliate program. You’ll learn how to go about finding an affiliate network (e.g. Clickbank). You also learn how to manage your affiliates, how to keep them motivated, and how to get the best out of your own affiliate army (hence the title of the CD). If you have your own product and lookcing to skyrocket your sales, you should definitely listen to this.

CD #12: Put it all together

If you have made it so far, you really got to congratulate yourself. There is just so much information in this course that it took me a month to finish it. Now, if you may have finished it faster than I did, but it does take a while to go through all these CDs. In this CD, you’ll learn how to use the action tracker to put your plans in action. Here are the blueprints that you get here:

• Mission Control Blueprint: how to get things started and keep them on track.
• Market Spy Blueprint: market discovery blueprint.
• Opportunity Analyzer Blueprint: market research blueprint.
• AdWords Attack Blueprint: Adwords action plan.
• Content Factory Blueprint: content production action plan.
• Social Director Blueprint: social media optimization blueprint.
• Advertising Expansion Blueprint: online advertising blueprint.

Traffic Secrets 2.0 also comes with a bunch of goodies that are licensed to be used by the owners of Traffic Secrets only.

Community:

Traffic Secret 2.0 community is a valuable resource for folks who have trouble implementing the concepts discussed in this course. John, his staff, and other community members are always on to help other community members. And this is a great mastermind group to hang out with.

Resources:

With Traffic Secrets 2.0, you also get lifetime updates. It means that you won’t have to pay for the updates. Not only that, you gain access to some of the best material from Traffic Secrets 1.0. You gain access to more training material on outsourcing, keyword research, and SEO. You also gain access to a list of solutions that you can use to build and expand your business.

Verdict:

Traffic Secrets 2.0 is one of the most comprehensive traffic courses that I have ever seen. It covers all the techniques that you can use to drive traffic to your site (free or paid traffic). I think the challenge for TS 2.0 owners will be to find time to get through it and have the dedication to implement what they have learned. We all buy books, courses, and things we never fully use. If you are looking for a course to put somewhere and let gather dust, you should probably look elsewhere. TS 2.0 is a business investment and does not come cheap. I do encourage you to take the process slow. Finish a CD, implement the tactics, then move to the next CD. But if you do master the tactics explained in TS 2.0, you will drive traffic to your site and grow your business.

A few months ago, I started hearing folks talking about the 30 day challenge. My very first impression was, “that’s a weight loss challenge.” But as it turned out, it was a money making challenge. The good folks behind 30DC designed their program to allow Internet entrepreneurs to pick up the latest techniques to build an online business. 30 Day Challenge was a free program, and it was great for what it was. But making $10 a month is much different from making $1000+ a month (for starters, you can’t quit your day job with $10). 30DC+ is a whole new course by Ed Dale that promises to teach you how to go way beyond what you can achieve through the 30 day challenge. That’s why I decided to give 30 Day Challenge + a try to see if it is worth the price:

In reality, most Internet marketing techniques that work today may not work tomorrow. Search engines are changing. The social media is changing, and outdated information can seriously cut into your online profits. So it is essential to be on the top of Internet marketing field to take advantage of the latest developments in the industry. But the main problem most marketers have is: they’re not greedy enough! Folks want to make $50 a month or $100 a month on the Internet from affiliate marketing but as soon as you complicate things, they back out.

Content: If you were determined enough to get through the 30 day challenge by Ed Dale, you have probably heard him say numerous times that your goal is not to make $1 online but to build a business. Making money online is great, but if you are not growing you are setting up yourself for failure. The truth is, top Internet marketing guys have made their living not out of affiliate marketing but through their own products. There is really a limit to how much you can earn with affiliate marketing. It could be $200K or $500K or even a $1M, depending on the complexity of your campaigns and operations, but there is a limit. With your own products, the sky is the limit. That’s why I liked the 30DC+. Unlike the 30 day challenge, the goal here is not to make $1 or two on the web. You’ll learn how to launch your own product, create content fast, and even handle other aspects of your business (payments …).

Strategies: as mentioned before, 30 day challenge + is an advanced marketing course that teaches you a well-rounded set of tactics and strategies that you can use to expand your own business:

• Market Research: if you don’t know how to do proper market research, there is a good chance you are going to make grave mistakes and set yourself up for failure. As Ed puts it, you’ve got to do your market research to get a better understanding of your market that could put you on your way towards market leadership. I was impressed with the depth of information that was available on this subject. It’s one of those topics that everyone talks about but no one mentions how to actually go about doing it. 30 DC + shows you how to do this in practice. Can’t beat that!
  
• Traffic: you can have the best product in the world. If no one knows about it, you are not going to make a sale. Your blog could be the best blog in the world. You can’t just wait for Google to find you. You’ve got to do something about it. 30DC+ teaches you how.  Whether it’s through Facebook or long-tailing, you are going to drive traffic to your site, trust me!
  
• Conversion: the conversion game is a big part of every online marketer’s world. You can have the best product in the world, but if you don’t know how to optimize your landing page to grab the attention of your prospects, they are going to leave you and settle for your rival’s product. Whether it’s your call to action or the design of your landing page, you are going to get top tips that Ed Dale uses himself to sell his own products.
  
• Product: Ed covers the basics of creating a product for your business. In the first 30 days, you get the opportunity to watch Ed gives you tips about how you can go about creating your audio product. I don’t know about you but seeing something get done is much better than just reading about it (see a video on this here).

Now, if you have been following Ed Dale for a while, you have probably heard of his other program, the Immediate Edge. The Immediate Edge is sold out for now. And it is really designed for super gurus. And let’s not forget that the Immediate Edge is selling for $100 a month. If you are not at the guru level in this business, you are better off sticking with 30 Day Challenge Plus.

The 30 Day Challenge Plus is the best way to outsource your research and training process. The content will be available to you on a regular basis, and you can read, watch, and listen to course material anywhere anytime. There is one catch. The content will be taken down every 30 days to make sure folks who decide to join early and stay with the program get all the content (the current content will be taken down in a few days!). Overall, if you enjoyed the 30 day challenge, you are going to love 30DC+. But even if didn’t have a chance to follow the 30DC program, you are still going to get a lot from this program.