Market Samurai Review

Market Samurai takes your effort and infuses it with jet fuel so that it launches you into out of this world results while reducing your time to get there. I am happy I made the investment in the Noble Samurai software because it not only helps me but it helps me to get my clients on the right track in record time.

My views on Market Samurai have not changed since I wrote that statement back in 2008.

In fact, it has always been great but is so much better now.

Noble Samurai (the people behind the software) also provide some great video tutorials. These tutorials make using this software a breeze and make it less daunting to those who are novices.

Anyway, I thought it was time to give you an intimate look at this software tool guaranteed to make any keyword research a whole lot easy and reduce the time it takes to research those terms.

This software has save me hours and hours of time when it comes to search engine optimization…and I know Market Samurai can rock your world too.

Someone new to the web recently asked, “How do I get my website to the first page of Google?”

This was a very naiive question because there isn’t a simple answer.

Today getting to the first page of any search engine depends on your domain, how long it has been around plus on page and off page influences.

Off page factors include things such as incoming links, which are like votes for your site, plus the type of domains that those links come from.

On page factors include things such as the content on the page, headers, titles, and other items such as images.

It used to be that Internet marketing research for the right keywords (or phrases) took ages but with Market Samurai, this task is greatly reduced—plus it helps with a variety of other tasks all from the desktop panel.

I’ve been using Market Samurai since before it was publicly released (Beta). Even now it is constantly upgraded and improved.

Noble Samurai created this software to work on Adobe AIR which has an auto update feature that is convenient and easy.

Also, unlike many other types of software, Market Samurai works on all computer types–so it doesn’t matter what you own.

But it is the features that I want to take you through to familiarize you with the product.

When you open the software you can chose to begin a new project or to revisit an existing one.

Once inside you can select the particular task from this menu:

• Project Settings
• New Keyword
• Rank Checker
• Keyword Research
• SEO Competition
• Domains
• Monetization
• Find Content
• Publish Content
• Promotion
• Adwords

Project Setting & Rank Tracker
This section allows you to enter in your domain URL and to track its ranking in three different search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing) and also see how many pages are indexed by those engines.

It shows both broad match and phrase match keywords, checks page rank and backlinks, and allows for various search depths from 10 to 1,000.

Recently MS added the ability to track the site over time and easily view the historical data and trends. This was such a great addition and I can use it to track my small business SEO projects over time.

Keyword Research
Keyword Research is the function I used the most. You can enter you main keyword or phrase and search. This brings back results, not only for the main keyword, but also for other related phrases, and it lets you compare the data on one screen.

There are filters for Google Synonyms, Google Search Words, and filtering for SEO traffic, Adwords Traffic, and Phrase Length.

In addition, it is possible to indicate both positive and negative keywords plus you can also import or export data in one click.

Once you select the keyword or phrase it is possible to further analyze it by choosing Organic (Total Searches, SEO Traffic, Phrase-to-Broad, Trends), Adwords (Traffic Click Through Ratio, Cost Per Click), Competition (SEO Competition, Title Competition, Title Competition, AdwordsCompetition), and/or Commerciality.

Another nice nice feature is that you can click on a specific term to begin exploring it further to drill down your phrases.

SEO Competition
SEO Competition is a super perk for today’s market because you can view both Off Page and On Page data to see what ranking sites are doing right (or wrong) and identify windows of opportunity.

It is so comprehensive that it is of great value. For instance, when exploring you get to see first page ranking results in Google for the selected keyword but you also get to see competitive data such as domain age, page rank, a variety of backlinks, directory listings, metrics and when the site was last cached.

The visual overview includes color coding with green indicating that it would be easier to compete, yellow in the mid-range, and red indicating that it would be the hardest for each value displayed with the particular color indicator.

By using the arrows for each of the domains it is possible to do further analysis of the page rank including looking at the anchor text of each backlink AND where those backlinks are from.

Domains
Recently added was the feature to help find domain names (expiring, dropped, etc.,) and although I tried it with DomainFace, I did not have good luck for the niches I was exploring. To use this function you need to have an active account with Domain Face (which I do but I don’t currently use it).

Monetization
Monetization allows you to quickly find products, generate dynamic ads, and allows you to manage accounts and determine your business metrics.

This interfaces easily with Amazon, Clickbank, Commission Junction and PayDotCom affiliate networks with or without an account with those networks.

It is also possible to filter offers by keyword, commission, categories and language. But the real perk is that you can create an ad template with the copy and images from the affiliate products you find and create sidebar widget, blog or banner ads in a few simple clicks.

Find Content
Content creation can be a challenge and so this interface is a great perk—and one that is useful to a lot of people but not one that I use much.

It empowers you to be able to search many of the biggest article directories, various blogs, YouTube, Flickr, and news or answer sites.

Once you view the data, you can also determine how many content copies have previously been published while perusing both the page rank and backlinks to the page, while also being able to determine the keyword density of the article and the date published.

It is also possible to obtain an article from one of the directories and to publish it right from the Market Samurai software.

Find Content
This section is actually a publishing tool that I don’t take advantage of. It allows integration with WordPress blogs or WordPress Direct accounts.

You can both manage and publish the content found from this section of the software.

Promotion
If you are seeking to help your ranking, and want to find quality backlinks from blogs, forums or other Web 2.0 sites—this section will make your job easier.

A search will reveal keywords, page rank, backlinks, and identifies follow or nofollow along with pingbacks.

Adwords
This section is “Coming Soon” and so has not been activated yet. (I’ll have to come back to update when it is.)

Overall I find Market Samurai to be one of the best software values on the market. It is superior when it comes to the SEO research features and value.

The updates are useful and valuable and I am very happy to have purchased it.

One of the only shortcomings I have found is that sometimes it is very slow. This difficulty arises when I get into a trail of keywords in-depth.

Also, the long list of keyword tabs that are displayed are not easily accessed.

I thought it was my computer originally but found that the software slows down and gets cumbersome the more keywords you track. Often I close one project and open a second so I don’t have to deal with this issue.

Another thing that is a bit cumbersome is that it is necessary to close and reopen the software in between projects. It would be nice if I was able to navigate through each project from the panel without having to shutdown and start up again.

Even with those two minor inconveniences, I believe that overall this is one of the best investments I have made in software and one of my most valued tools to date.

I recommend this product highly to anyone who is doing any research or serious web work for SEO or Internet Marketing and believe it is a necessity instead of optional.

If you want to test drive this software you can do so–but with the 30 Day Money Back Guarantee I highly suggest you to purchase Market Samurai now before the price goes up again!

Since I am currently participating in The Challenge (formerly known as the 30 Day Challenge), I thought it would be a good time to talk about it.

The Challenge is a free program designed to teach people how to make their first dollar on the Internet.

One of the talented people behind the program is Ed Dale.

He is an Australian  known in many circles as, the “Tubby Nerd” and who is often seen with the likes of the Englishman Dan Raine (another Internet marketer) and a host of other talented people.

This year marks my third or fourth year (Sorry—I am really not sure!) doing this program.

One of the reasons I participate is that I like to learn new things and because The Challenge team is usually on top of the latest trends and tools.

In addition, there are some special offers and buys through the program and I’ve scored big time with a few of these and benefited from some great discounts.

During The Challenge, all the recommended software is free of charge to use, and if you elect to continue beyond the program, any purchase benefits those involved.

In the past it was 30 days of intense training and tasks. I’ve finished every time but not everyone was like me.

So, to tackle that problem, the new model is to work seven days, have seven off, and then resume. Hence, the program will continue for an estimated 90 days total.

Each training video is only a few minutes and the daily task commitment is supposed to only require 30 minutes a day.

It will be interesting to see how this works in comparison to past years.

Another nice thing about The Challenge is that it encourages teamwork, provides a moderated forum, and uses UstreamTV and YouTube for interactive sessions and training.

This year I joined a group (actually a few, but only one seems to be really active) and am curious to see what difference this makes in my progress and experience.

I am self-motivated but am enjoying a recent flurry of Internet connections with others who have the same goals of creating a residual income online.

At the moment I am at a solid 10-15% of my monthly goal and am wondering how this year’s challenge will effect that.

Some of the first topics include how the conduct market research, how to generate traffic and how to convert that traffic so it translates into dollars.

The video talks about how to identify a market, find a niche, and then target a microniche.

This year’s short video introduction to the process by far excels beyond anything I’ve seen previously. If this is any indication of how the program has tightened up–it will be more amazing than ever.

Anthony of Market Samurai fame does a brilliant outline of the process with clear examples and a sucinnct summary for Module One.

There is still time to join the process, and I recommend you do, just click here now to participate in the 2010 Challenge.

Every small business owner, consultant, sale person, or online business should have this new book in their library.

The Referral Engine is an easily read book (233 pages) with a great summary at the end called, Workshop which is a convenient list of those strategies discussed throughout the book in a short, easily reviewed format.

The work itself starts off with a not-so-startling statement,

Despite what some might suggest, there are no real secrets in business–only truths you haven’t yet figured out how to apply.

That statement made me laugh because it is so simple and so true!

Before I get into my gushing over this book, here is what you’ll find:

The Realities of Referral
This chapter gets into defining referrals, why people give them, what motivates them to do so while giving you a foundation to understanding them. The formula I enjoyed seeing outlined? Innovation + Action = Growth

The Qualities of Referral
This had some great gems and I couldn’t help but reflect when a local business began hiring teens to handle their clientele—and sadly within a year she was out of business. Jantsch talks about the link between customers and your staff and how hiring the right people, giving them the right training, and other components play key roles in getting better quality referrals and leveraging them. The take away from this section? Give to Get.

The Path to Referral
Now Jantsch gets into strategic and tactical applications with the Four Cs of Marketing: Content, Context, Connection, and Community. Basically there are two groups—the traditional and the tech savvy. However learning how to combine these for optimal results while targeting specific groups ( prospects, customers, providers, staff, partners) is a great suggestion. The take away in this chapter is the customer life cycle: Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, Refer.

The Referral System View
Lately there has been a lot of talk about transparency (or authenticity) and this chapter ties it in to innovation, core differences (such as a unique sales position) and leveraging your networks. Discussed are referral entry points and how to use them effectively.

Your Authentic Strategy
Referral brand elements are included in this section and defining and visualizing aspects of the business and customer is only one piece of the puzzle. Defining how things work in your world is referred to as the “secret sauce” aka “This is how we do it here” (or TIHWDIH) but I enjoyed how it presented the strategic action plan which is valuable for any small business owner.

Content as Marketing Driver
Leveraging content, speaking opportunities, using advertising and public relations are a few of the tips in this chapter but the examples of how they can be applied can help any small business spark additional ideas. The testimonial gathering party idea was unique but there are also many good resources in this section (and in all sections of the book).

Convergence Strategies
I’ve heard the term, “hub and spoke” before but using it both online and offline is an action that helps visitors, customers, and prospects. Power tools, blogging, podcasts, videos, and elunch ideas are introduced here. Again, some great tools are resources are listed to help you get started. One of the things I recently started in 2010 was a schedule of tasks for each week and month so I was glad to see John’s example and glimpse into what his efforts look like…and you get some suggestions as to how to create your own action plan.

Your Customer Network
Do you know your number for referrals? This is the number of people (friends, neighbors, and colleagues) referred to your business by clients. Basically, if you are not getting lots of referrals this chapter can help you determine why and help you fine tune that process. Again, the chapter ends with a customer network action plan that can help you outline the process or implement one.

The Strategic Partner Network
Businesses that have a common customer base make up part of your Strategic Partner Network and this chapter discusses how to identify, build, and activate this referral network which is one I think a lot of people overlook.

Ready to Receive
This chapter gets into the how and what that is involved in revving up your referral machine and includes resources and tips on how to get it (and keep it) going.

Referral Specific Campaigns
This is a fun collection of real life examples of the referral cycle and what happens when you set up and start up the referral machine.

Snack Sized Suggestions
This will make niche specific businesses jump for joy since examples from specific businesses are shared in short paragraph form.

Workshop
A nice summary of the entire book can be found in this chapter and makes it an easy reference point for those who might not like taking notes in the book.

John Jantsch spent a lot of time pondering this topic and put pen to paper to produce a book that should end up being a well worn, well marked up resource for anyone in business or sales.

Although he is well known on the web for being an award winning social media publisher, this book can be a vital tool for both online and brick and mortar businesses.

It would be best put to use if it was kept open on their counter (or desk) during the day to read, review, and to remind you of some important business concepts that many overlook or forget. (Hey John–now you need to produce one of those flip over perpetual desk calendars–just give me a credit blurb for the idea. LOL)

One of the great things within this book is that all the resources and sites of those businesses that are included in the book are also right on The Referral Engine book’s website.

This provides a great resource online and also a clever strategy for generating referrals—and for creating goodwill. (I hope the businesses listed will track the referrals coming from that website.)

The powerful piece of work can be used as a lifetime reference addition in any small business library–because although the world may change, certain principles remain the same and those principles are outlined well within The Referral Engine.

What I liked about it (and what I think you will too) is that it is engaging and filled with interesting stories, case studies and examples.

Again, it is in a simple format so that you can implement and remember what was presented easily so don’t be surprised if you power through it in a day.

However, I would recommend that you use sticky notes, a highlighter, and be sure to write notes in the margins so you can take full advantage of the contents so you can adapt them for personal use.

In my experience, I find people always miss the point by focusing too much on the niche specific information.

Marketing and referral strategies work the same way across industries and business types but what John Jantsch does well is to address this “niche mindset” by using examples from a wide variety of retail shops, service businesses, and from other professionals, consultants and sales teams.

I think this work would be of vast value to the small businesses here in the mountain region because most fail to collect any customer data or fail to follow up with customers to bring them back or to reach out to ask for more support or for referrals.

Right now we are in one of the “dead zones” of the year and many of the small business owners are crying but doing nothing to change this process—and it has been that way for the twenty-something years that I’ve been associated with the community.

The Referral Engine would be a great book to read now so that some of the suggestions and strategies within the book could be implemented before the next “dead zone” in the fall.

John Jantsch did an amazing job of presenting concepts clearly and in an easy to digest format so I highly recommend that you add The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself to your library–and while you are at it, consider adding Duct Tape Marketing to your cart as well.

When it comes to the Internet, Michelle has been around the block, so to speak. Today she is involved in white hat activities and can be found active in many social media venues.

You can hear her on Internet Marketing This Week and see her on videos helping out in the Thirty Day Challenge (a free program associated with Ed Dale).

While out on the Internet I’ve always liked how Michelle responded quickly to any questions and found value in the topics she presents–so I was excited when she made an offer to check out Crowd Mountain Bootcamp for only one dollar.

Crowd Mountain Bootcamp is a sequential six week program on how to build a niche blog that works.

Crowd Mountain Bootcamp doles the lessons in modules on a weekly basis and you have access to past recordings and to recorded discussions for members.

There are also monthly teleseminars for live Q&A’s with Michelle.

But let me get into the Crown Mountain Bootcamp program by Michelle MacPhearson and then tell you my final assessment.

Introduction

When you enter into the program, the first thing you view is the Introduction. I would have liked this Introduction to have been a little more in-depth with a link to a resource page for the questions about products or services.

Each module was broken down into sub-topics that include videos, workbooks, and homework.

What I liked is that Crowd Mountain goes into how to optimize with support tools, plug-ins and other short cuts.

Although I’ve studied with a few different blogging and niche marketing experts, this program was awesome due to the unique features it offers.

Personally, I do best in a format that includes a weekly module (or at least a guide) and scheduled tasks. This keeps me on target versus the types that let you go at your own pace.

In the Crowd Mountain Bootcamp program you can’t just skip ahead or get a glimpse into what is next because it is moderated according to your account.

As you progress you earn access to different tools designed to help you. These are proprietary tools so you won’t find them elsewhere.

There were a few things that I did not like such as the fact that my comments were moderated and weeks later were still in moderation mode–which did not allow me to get questions answered.

During my membership, Crowd Mountain Connect (similar to Twitter) was a nice addition for members to chat and share info. Using Crowd Mountain Connect worked better than the comments on the main area of Crowd Mountain Bootcamp.

I tend to like a forum option because I can commiserate with the other students and feel like I am part of a community. Crowd Mountain Connect was okay but it really didn’t do much for me.

Another thing that I didn’t like was that many of the plug-ins recommended did not work and there were no other suggestions listed. This was very frustrating as some of them had great potential to help on my sites.

The other weak point was that I didn’t like constant referrals to post my questions elsewhere outside of the modules. I would have rather been able to get an answer to my question then and there.

It might have worked better to disable the comments and put up a notice with the right area to post questions.

Finally, I hope she works on retention and directing students into another program or into staying longer by offering more tasks within Crowd Mountain.

Okay, now it is time to look at the module content…

Crowd Mountain Bootcamp Module 1 Niche the Niche

The first module is basically how to get started in finding a niche and getting your niche blog up and running.

Idea Factory was about generating niche market ideas and qualifying them.

Money Factory taught how to find the hidden gems when it comes to keywords.

Keyword Research 1-3 involved identifying sub niches, working in niche markets, and how to work in a competitive market.

Domain Name Selection revealed where to get domain name ideas and what makes up a good domain name.

Crowd Mountain Bootcamp Module 2 Optimize for Size

The module was very valuable in that it taught how to set up your blog and optimize it with the best themes, plug-ins and other tools. Topics covered included:

• Intro & Objectives
• Install WordPress
• On Page Factors
• LSI & You
• Latent Semantic Indexing=Other Keywords For You To Use!
• WordPress Themes
• Get Yer Plugins!

The only real complaint I had here was that at least three of the recommended plug-ins did not work for my sites and there were no alternatives suggested–nor were there links to the plug-in development sites.

Crowd Mountain Bootcamp Module 3 Content Architecture

I already knew a lot of the information included in this module BUT what I found great were the tools and how to delve into the content architecture to form a more optimized blog.

This module gave me an “ah hah!” moment when some of the other information I already had connected with the understanding of how to best put things together—and some tools that I did not know about.

Essentially this module looks at the long tail of searching and learning about the niche and what content should be produced.

It talks about sites you can use (such as Google Reader) to find what type of content is in the top sites and just what questions people are asking in that niche.

One of the best tips here was how to use the Google Reader share option.

In addition, this module allows you to begin using the Crowd Mountain Snooper to look at competition and deeply into the niche.

Other topics in this module included how to find long tail keyword phrases, how to get the best titles out of content, the influence that other media has on ranking, and re-purposing content.

Crowd Mountain Bootcamp Module 4 Monetization

There are some people who are not familiar with the term, monetization. It means setting up your website or blog so that it makes money.

In this section all the elements that effect ranking are discussed but the gem is the hands-off monetization, how to find affiliate partners, and specialty link structures that will benefit your site.

I was thrilled to find the plug-in that automates affiliate links with multiple terms.

Additional topics include new visitor alert messages, Amazon stores, and email management via an auto responder.

Crowd Mountain Bootcamp Module 5 Search Engine Assault

Another “ah-hah!” for me was contained in the One RSS Feed to Rule Them All. I never really understood how to use Friend Feed and this section was a great revelation.

Crown Mountain shares sites where you can get photos and how to get the most mileage out of the content you do create. Awesome!

Other topics discussed included how to build niche links and finding trends while also assessing the competition…and:

• The Meat of Link Building
• Hands Off Niche Blog Links
• Become a Podcast
• Internal Linking

Crowd Mountain Bootcamp Module 6 Power Networking

Michelle is a social media queen so this module had additional valuable tips and hints.

It covered Twitter, Twitter tools, video marketing, networking, connecting networks, and how to use Facebook and other social media sites so that they work for you.

She alerted me to a new resource I had no knowledge of and shared some insider secrets that would take ages to find without some help.

Crowd Mountain Bootcamp Tools

Finally, Crowd Mountain offers member access to some unique tools such as the Crowd Mountain Snooper and the Crowd Mountain Task Manager.

The Snooper helps you to find out more about a niche and keywords within it.

In the Task Manager Michelle assigns the tasks and you can keep track of where you are in the process. You can also set up your own task sheets.

Other Aspects of Crowd Mountain Bootcamp

There isn’t a lot of fluff in the content over in Crowd Mountain. It is quality content and tasks that are designed to get you going quickly and will keep you hopping.

At the end of each module you were to fill out the homework and listen to the Q&A for that particular section. This can keep anyone on task.

In addition, you could also submit your blog for review by Michelle. Alas, I left without this happening for me.

Another perk I forgot to mention is that optimized themes were posted each month for members to download and use.

Since my participation, Michelle MacPhearson has added more to the program. I’ve thought of contact tech support to see if I can resume but I have a lot on my plate and am in two other programs as I write this.

My Final Assessment of Crowd Mountain Bootcamp?

I really enjoyed Michelle MacPhearson’s Crowd Mountain. I learned a lot and still have to implement it on my other blogs (like this one)—which is part of my 2010 goals!

So, I recommend this program highly even though I was disappointed that Michelle MacPhearson disappeared during the last month of my participation. I had finished the course but opted to stay enrolled to see what was next or what new content would be presented.

It was quiet…

So the lack of communication, new content, etc., was the reason I stopped my subscription. I still don’t know what was up but she was away from her blog, her podcast, and her program.

In a month or so, Michelle emerged and things were hopping again.

So do I recommend Michelle MacPhearson’s Crowd Mountain?

Absolutely!

Crowd Mountain Bootcamp is worth the investment and time commitment.

The video tutorials, notes, and comments were valuable tools but it was the unique content, unique referrals, and insights that I found most vital.

Even if you have studied with other Internet bloggers or marketers, Crowd Mountain has some great content and I am sure Michelle MacPhearson will only add more to the mix as time goes on (she already has added Niche Trailheads).

Crowd Mountain is such a great program that I became an affiliate.

After reading my review, if you feel you could benefit (as I did) sign up for Michelle MacPhearson’s Crown Mountain Bootcamp program for $1 while it lasts.

I truly recommend Crowd Mountain and using my affiliate link above will support this blog and future reviews of other programs!

Update: February 18,2010: Michelle announced that she is closing the dollar trial this week and updating the content. Those who join now will be grandfathered in while future students will not have access to previous content.

Above: Screen Shot of NPC 2.0 Classroom Panel in late 2009

I previewed Niche Profits Classroom back in February 2009. Since that time it has changed.

If you are not familiar with Niche Profits Classroom 2.0 this program is for niche marketing which is different from blogging for expert status or about a particular topic to establish yourself as an expert.

This week Adam Short and Alen Sultanic offered a limited dollar special to come in and look for seven days–however they decided to reopen it again for two days–so if you are interested head over to NPC 2.0 now for the deal.

Basically, it teaches you how to set up profitable mini-sites to generate income over time.

Part of this is to develop one of your first products.

If my memory serves me, it was much easier to navigate the course back in February of 2009 and the responsiveness of customer support was great.

Now, there are more navigational aids than I like to have–and it is easy to get lost. But the content and course has been much improved since February.

Once inside it is a good idea to watch the NPC Roadmap, a video guide to the use of the NPC 2.0. This was a good addition because of the large expanse of the training center.

It is easy to get lost.

Having said that the layout is pretty clean.

One of the things I did not like was that there was an upsell that was not disclosed prior to joining (if it was I missed it).

So some of the areas are not accessible to standard members (and these have an * next to them).

However, standard members can buy some of the options should they want to.

NPC 2.0 includes:

Main Classroom

NPC Center
-Niche Profit Press
-Niche Profit Mastermind Webinars
-NPC Media Center
-Module X*
-Teleseminars & Interviews
-Read Made Niche businesses* (or upsell and every month *members get two free)
-Niche Profit Link Tracks* (or upsell)  they provide insight into sites that provide high PR backlinks
-Niche Profit Hot Markets*
-Niche Profit Hot List
–Reviews of products and services (only two posted on viewing)  and are things that have worked and given good results.

Software Suite Overview

-Niche Profit Leaders provide ongoing support, but members meet them in this Community Member List. NPLs are limited to ten people who are proficient in the areas being studied and selected from applications are submitted for the positions. Those selected moderate the forums and assist members.

Software

-Moneywords Keyword Tool (didn’t work for me and support didn’t get back to me until after I had left the program several days later).

-Market Scorecard (which helps define and locate markets that are worth pursuing)

-Market Profiler (an in-depth market research tool)

-Market Checklist (keeps track of your progress on each website you build)

-Sales Letter Wizard (awesome tool helps to create a sales letter in minutes)

Outsourcing*

Hosting (NPC 2.o allows you to host 15 domains with account)

T-Capsule (upsell for packages that you might have missed previously)

NPC Community (forum)

Partners (NPC 2.0 has a really nice affiliate center but I can’t access my account even with the password they sent me and support has not helped on this matter).

CP (where bucket management happens–a bucket is a storage area for research and tools.

Above: The Infamous Bucket Area

NPC 2.0 Course Modules
The course modules form the main area of NPC 2.0 and is where most of the daily learning takes place. (I am not listing everything since since only members should get the entire glimpse but this is a pretty comprehensive summary.)

Each module consists of an:
Introduction
Video Training
Resources
Action Steps

1-Introduction
Talks about Niche Marketing
Niche Marketing 2.0 Formula

2-Market Research
5 Core Attributes to a Golden Niche
6th is the passion you have for it
Brainstorming

Real World Market Research
Low to Medium Competition
Adequate Market Size
Long Term Potential
Good Target Audience (eager to buy)
Product Cost

3-Project Planning
Prospect Interests & Desires
Types of Info Products
Mind Mapping in 20 Minutes or Less
Do I have to Create My Own Product?

4-Graphics
Introductions to Templates & Graphics
Getting Templates Created
Sending Sample Graphics to Designer

5-Web Hosting
14 Part series by EarnersGuild.Com (which is a defunct website)
Registration
Hosting
What is it
Basic Hosting Terms
Different Hosting Levels

6-Domain Names
choosing and registering a domain name
12-14 total videos

7-On Site Articles
Articles & SEO
Life Force of the Internet
Money Word Matrix
Real World Keyword Research
Selecting Article Topics
Create Your Articles
Finding & Hiring Great Writers
ICA (Resources)

8-Project Creation
Pages for an Ebook
Royalty Free Images
Methods of Creation
Anatomy of a Good eBook
Creating an eBook
Hiring a Writer
Converting Finished Product

9-Auto Responders
Copyrighting
Web Site Building
Traffic Secrets
Profit Boosting
Bonus Training

10-Copywriting
Introduction to Copywriting
Creating Your Million Dollar Sales Letter
Outsourcing Copywriting

11-Web Site Building
Intro to Building Your Website
How to Build
Clickbank
Tracking Code
SEO
Selecting a Domain Name
Keyword Phrases
Keyword Research
Meta
Navigation
Internal Linking
Anchor Text
Image Links
Absolute & Relative Links
LSI
Keyword Density
Text Style
Real World SEO
Payment Processing

12-Traffic Secrets
Free Traffic for Life
Article Marketing Mastery
21 Day Traffic Blueprint
Set Up Your Affiliate Program
Day 22 & Beyond

13-Profit Boosting
Maximize List Value
Increase Traffic
Maximize Conversions Add Bonuses
Split Test
Gather & Add Testimonials
Expand Your Product Line Add Upsells
Add Back Ends

14-Bonus Training
Affiliate Cash Traps
Pre-Requisites
Choosing a Product
Affiliate Cash Traps SSM

Other Topics Covered:
Introduction to Email Marketing
Email Marketing 101
Action Steps to Maximizing List Profits
Add Traffic Channels
Intro to Bonuses
Creating Bonuses
Integrating Your Bonuses with your Website and Marketing
Split Testing
Introduction to Testimonials
The Testimonial Cruncher Method
Expand Your Product Line & Upsells
Add Back Ends

In addition there is a whole media center dedicated to specific topics.

Total videos claimed? 283

Okay, so what do I think?

If you are a beginner and want to target a specific niche as a business I think the NPC 2.0 program is an option.

My reasons for not joining:

1. that although I think it is a great value, I have other resources and people I am training under,
2. the glitches I encountered made me feel like I was one in too large of a group to receive timely answers and support when I needed them,
3. I also didn’t get answers when I emailed directly to the program email account as instructed, and
4. the program developers were not accessible as they are in other programs I am in/have been in, and
5. I don’t like giving up my credit card to systems that do not allow me to manage payments or termination of my account.

I also need to disclose that I did not have a good experience when I was trying to get an issue resolved.

My web experience with programs previous to this have usually been good but in this one I had a hard time finding a real email for contact and the response I got when I finally tracked someone down was not very nice.

Yes, the issue was resolved but I considered the way I was handled to be a very poor reflection on the program and those responsible for it.

Perhaps it was the glut of issues within the massive launch process but I will certainly not be inclined to try any more of their products or services as a result of that experience.

Now, that said…back to the rest of the review.

We all know that asking visitors to click over and over again is not a good thing and I was surprised that once inside I hated that I had to click, click, click.

There are a series of videos on each topic. Each is very short (which is good for some people) but after you click into the module then you have to click to load a video, then when that video stops you have to click again, and again, and again until the entire module is over…did I mention that you also have to also click the video to get it to play?

Plan on a minimum of three clicks to even get started. I tend to watch and listen while I am doing other mundane tasks so being attached to the computer was not something I appreciated.

Personally I would have preferred longer snippets or some sort of choice to view a longer video versus just clicking all the shorter ones.

I suspect this has to do with updates and changes being more easily done for the future but it keeps me at the computer instead of working on the things being outlined.

Another factor is that once inside each module, beyond the videos, there are more clickable options for Lesson Navigation–this means you click through to the Introduction, Video Training, Resources, and Action Step items.

If you are not paying attention you could miss this easily.

Videos are a bit annoying because if something stops them they reset to the beginning and I was unable to fast forward to the location where I was cut off.

However, you can pause and resume without a problem.

The other thing is that great topics are only available online in the center. I am used to training I can download and do offline–guess I am spoiled since I understand the reasoning behind the strategy–keeps people from snagging and disclosing.

A bonus to the program is that, every two weeks, the duo does online coaching and critiques for members.

Members sign up for the Webinar on the main page–but no registration on the webinar replay page–which I believe is an oversight.

I attend the webinar during the week. It was a large event so things were a little glitchy but I was happy with the information. There was a lot of dead air that sometimes made me wonder if I was cut off or not. Eventually I just phoned in to listen.

My special interest was in the “hot seat” portion as I like to see real world examples of my classmates. Since the webinar went on for a while there were only a few.

Now, as I am right in the midst of preparing for a launch–I understand the glitches that happen–and my experience inside NPC 2.0 showed me just how important it is to attempt to avoid problems.

During this NPC 2.0 launch there were delays in getting a response from support and a few glitches–such as late delivery of a new product and the inability to use at least one of the software components–both of which I would have liked to have tested and was not able to.

But the slow response (and lack of response) from support was the biggest issue along with the way it was handled once I was able to connect with one of the right people–in a PM from a forum outside the program.

NPC 2.0 offers a lot of information for the money. It is a GREAT value if you want to learn proven techniques.

The program also empowers you by giving you two business packs a month to promote–everything you need (including the ebook) is provided. All you have to do is customize it.

Another great perk is the Niche Profits Press (now in a Pro Edition which I have not seen) which allows you to build niche profits sites with a ready made template that only needs customization.

They Money Matrix also helps you to determine just what niches and keywords would be of benefit to you in your niche.

Ultimately, for the monthly membership fee you really do get an amazing amount of resources, software, and support. When combined with the networking in the forums, the bi-weekly webinars, and other perks–despite what I thought were shortcomings–the program is a great value for anyone new to this type of online marketing and business.

Therefore NPC 2.0 is a solid program for niche businesse novices but I’d also suggest you look for other alternatives based on my end experience mentioned earlier. What would that be? Read my review of Crowd Mountain by Michelle MacPhearson.

If you are not sure, watch the Niche Profits Classroom 2.0 videos and opt-in for a while before you make your decision

If you join the affiliate program and manage to sell memberships you could certainly benefit and have those commissions pay for your course if you have a good audience that might be interested in this type of strategy.

Gideon Sheldrik’s Become A Blogger Premium 2.0

I wrote about Become A Blogger Premium late last year but have just  about completed the program and thought I would share some additional information.

My decision to write about this again is because enrollments started again today and the first coaching call is next week.

The program will not be reopened again in the near future so you have just a few days to decide if the program is for you.

It is also important to understand that this particular program is a great bargain and happens to be the most affordable blog training programs on the market.

Believe it or not, you can get professional online training with a monthly investment of less than a $50.

So, if you want to learn more about blogging and how to set up your blog–this is the course for you.

BUT it is important to know that the Become A Blogger Premium program is not for advanced bloggers.

I consider myself an intermediate blogger and didn’t think I needed the course since I had already done the Blog Mastermind Course with Yaro Starak but when I got the special offer–it was too good to turn down and honestly I am glad I enrolled.

The difference is that Become A Blogger Premium 2.0 is a video course that shows you how to do each step while also taking it to the next level with video and other techniques.

For me, it reiterated certain concepts and also introduced me to a few new resources I had not used before.

The entire course will currently deliver 60 video tutorial links right to your inbox.

If you are not sure, Gideon also has the free course, Become a Blogger that is also a great tool to get you started but the Premium is more in depth and empowers students with much more material than the ten introductory videos–and it won’t be available for long.

Here are the titles of the Become  a Blogger Premium’s Eight Modules:

Module 1: Get Your Blog Up And Running Fast And FREE
Module 2: How To Optimize Your Blog For Maximum Search Engine Performance
Module 3: How To Create Powerful Content For Your Blog, Consistently and Without Fail
Module 4: How To Use Images On Your Blog To Make You Stand Out From The Crowd
Module 5: How To Create A Different Dimension To Your Blog By Adding Audio
Module 6: How To Breathe Life Into Your Blog Using Online Video
Module 7: How To Create Multiple Streams of High Quality Traffic To Your Blog
Module 8: How To Make Money From Your Blog

The course also includes a number of bonuses such as

• How To Use The “X-Factor” Strategies To Put Your Blog into Super Drive (dispensed throughout the course),
• Ten part audio series on Mastering the Mindset,
• Access to the Become a Blogger Private Forums,
• Members only teleconferences.

When Become a Blogger Premium opened in late 2008 the fee was $77 a month and sold out quickly. The price has been reduced for a limited time only–$47 a month–but you only have 5 days to become a part of it.

There are two options:
1) You can either sign up on a month by month basis or
2) invest in it up front for the entire 6 months get a discount.

Here are some of the titles of the videos included in the Become a Blogger Premium course:

How to Get Banner Ads Onto Your Blog
How to Use Google Adsense On Your Blog
How To Create An Optin Box For Your Blog And Start Building Your List
How to Earn the Big Bucks with Your Blog
How to Monetize Your Blog with Direct Advertising
How to Monetize your Blog Using Affiliate Marketing part 1, 2,
How to Monetize your Blog: An Introduction
How to Optimize your blog for SEO (Detailed Instructions)
How to Install Google Analytics onto Your Blog
The Last Word on Traffic
44 Specialized SEO Strategies
Harder But More Effective Ways of Getting floods of Traffic
An Introduction of Getting Traffic
An Introduction to Traffic Generation
How to Make your Videos Clickable
How to Stream Live On your Blog
Killer Tips for Optimizing Your Blog
How to Get Your video Onto Your Blog
How to Edit your Videos Using Complimentary Software
How to Capture & Record Your First Video
How to Set Up Your Video Shooting Area
The Secret Formula for Creating Powerful Video Scripts
Video: Exactly What Kind Of Equipment You’ll Need For Creating Your Videos
X-Factor Video: Another Easy Way To Get Audio Onto Your Blog
Audio: The Lazy Way To Podcasting
How to Create Your First Podcast
Podcasting Secrets Revealed
How to Create a Twitter Profile that Makes Your Big Bucks & Drives Traffic to Your Blog
How to Do Professional Interviews for Your Blog
How to Stream Audio Straight from Your Blog
How to Create Your First Audio Recording for Your Blog
Why You need to Use Audio on Your Blog
How to Add Photos and Pictures to Your Blog
How to Edit Your Images for Your Blog
How to Create Authentic Content for Your Blog
Handy Writing Tips for Your Blog
How to Create Pillar content for Your Blog
Don’t be a Generalist-Find Your Focus
How to Set Up the Key Pages for Your Blog
Key Pages You Need to Set Up on Your Blog
How to Backup Your Blog 1, 2, 3,
How to Submit Your Sitemap to google.com
The XXX Plugin How to Install it
The XXX Plugin What it is and Why You Need It
The XXX Plugin How to Install It
The XXX Plugin What It Is and Whye You Need It
The XXX Plugin How to Install It
The XXX Plugin what it does and why you need it
XXX Plugin How to Install it
XXX What it is and why you need it
X Factor View An easy way to get audio onto your blog
The XXX Plugin and How to Install it
The XXX Plugin What it is and why you need it
X Factor Strategy Revealed
How to install the XXX Plugin

So, check out the Road Map to Becoming A Blogger report, and the ten videos at Become a Blogger to learn how to set up an optimized Word Press blog.

Don’t miss the video on rapid blog traffic growth, or the seven YouTube marketing tips, and if you like these resources you’ll really enjoy the Become A Blogger Premium 2.0 course.

Now, the other surprise for anyone who does sign up for this course–Yaro is offering a special package that includes Blog Mastermind AND Become A Blogger. Be sure to take advantage of this offer this week since it is a great deal.

I had the pleasure of being one of his first students in the Beta Membership Site Mastermind Program in 2008.

What I like about Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind and Membership Site Mastermind Programs is that he gives you a ton of value and then lifetime access when the program is done.

Even if you just download the Membership Site Masterplan (72 pages) you can glean a lot of information from it—but the advantage of enrolling is that you also get Yaro’s help and benefit from the synergy (and relationships) from the mentors and other members in the private forums.

In Beta the Membership Site Mastermind program was designed to be done over a six month period—now that has been reduced to a mere six weeks but don’t think that you are expected to adhere to that grueling schedule.

There are essentially nine components to the Membership Mastermind Program and six modules to teach you the Membership Mastermind model.

Step 1: The Membership Site Masterplan

Membership Site Masterplan step one is to download and read the Masterplan. You can also download the MP3 version and listen to it.

Step 2: Study the Modules

Each Module is roughly two hours long, split into two sessions. Yaro has taken the two hours and split them up into four files of about half an hour each, which is a good length of manageable time so.

Step 3: Implement the Task Sheets

The task sheet activities give you concrete steps to take and are not necessarily meant to be completed in one week. When this program was first created a complete membership site launch was intended to be completed within six months not six weeks.

Step 4: Participate in the Coaching Calls

Each week there will be one live group coaching call with Yaro Starak. These calls are invaluable and the topic of the call will correspond to what the module for that week is about. However the perk is that you can ask any questions related to your membership site during the live calls and benefit from learning the answers to the questions other people ask—many that you might not have thought of.

One of the things I love about Yaro Starak’s ethic is that he provides support to anyone who has worked with him and recordings of the calls are available for those who can’t make the live calls or any student who wants to listen again.

Step 5: Listen To The Bonus Audio Interviews

The bonus interviews with experts who have successfully launched membership sites are a big perk. You can stream or download the MP3 audio files, or download and read the text transcript in PDF.

Step 6: AMember Video Training

Yaro arranged a special deal with Adam Short to grant Membership Site Mastermind students access to these videos as part of your training. Yaro does not use aMember but provides this as a service to students.

Step 7: Choose a Blog Theme

New in this release is that if you have decided to use a blog as part of your marketing strategy for your membership site, Yaro provides new unique custom themes created only for Membership Site Mastermind students.

Step 8: The Private Members Forum

Another new feature is that as a paying member in any one of Yaro’s coaching programs you receive access to a members only private forum. Originally this forum was part of a public forum with passocode access to the paid program areas.

Now the forum has been moved—a great decision. Now new members can mix with his best students, who are also working towards building successful blogs and membership sites.

Yaro still welcomes his students to make full use of any section of the forums—paid or public.

Bonus: Yaro’s Email Launch Sequence

When you get into Module 5 you will be able to get the added bonus of being able to download a 96 page PDF document that contains the entire launch email sequence Yaro used to open Blog Mastermind the first time, before anyone had ever heard of it.

That was the launch that generated over $100,000 for him!

Membership Site Mastermind Program Modules

Here is the breakdown of the topics covered in the six Membership Mastermind Program Modules:

• Membership Site Mastermind Module 1: Topic Selection and Preeminence
• Membership Site Mastermind Module 2: Traffic
• Membership Site Mastermind Module 3: Human Resources and Technology
• Membership Site Mastermind Module 4: Content and Pricing
• Membership Site Mastermind Module 5: The Launch Process
• Membership Site Mastermind Module 6: Post Launch

If you read the Membership Site Masterplan you will get good insight into what each of these modules entails but the course takes you much deeper into the process.

In addition, Yaro Starak always provides great value. To summarize, in addition to the six modules you also get a lot of support materials which includes:

Audios
Interviews with Expert Membership Site Owners

Videos
aMember Quick Start Videos and more!

Blog Themes (10)
Coaching Calls
Resources
Recommended Additional Resources
Surveys

* Survey Monkey
* Survey Gizmo
* Form Tools

Pay Per Click Traffic
* Google AdWords
* Yahoo! Search Marketing
* Microsoft AdCenter
* Ask Sponsored Listings
* Looksmart
* Mirva
* Bidvertiser

Copywriters

* Copywriting Forum
* Guru.com Copywriters Category
* Elance.com Writing Category

Membership Site Content Management Systems

* Open Source CMS
* Moodle
* Drupal
* Joomla
* Wild Apricot
* WordPress
* Your Member (WordPress Membership plug-in)

Forum Scripts
* vBulletin
* phpBB
* Invision Board

Affiliate Management
* MarketersChoice
* Post Affiliate Pro
* iDevAffiliate
* Clickbank
* EasyClickMate

Shopping Carts and Payment Processors
* PayPal
* 1ShoppingCart
* 2CheckOut
* IPowerPay.com – US/Global payment gateway
* EWay.com.au – Australian payment gateway

Helpdesk Scripts
* PerlDesk
* Hot Scripts
* PHP Resource Index: Customer Support Scripts

Outsourcing
* Elance
* Getafreelancer
* Scriptlance
* Design Outpost
* 99 Designs
* Rentacoder
* Odesk
* Guru
* Bonus PDF from Membership Mastermind graduate Mwangi on outsourcing

Images and Photographs
* Istockphoto
* Getty Images
* Stock X.chng
* Creative Commons Search
* Flickr
* A Complete Guide to Finding and Using Incredible Flickr Images

Custom Themes

Private Membership Forums

I highly recommend ANY of Yaro Starak’s program. The Membership Site Mastermind Program opens for enrollment only a couple of times and year and only a  limited amount of students are allowed into the Membership Site Mastermind–so I suggest you grab your spot. If you need more information–start by downloading the Membership Site Mastermind Masterplan now.

Due to health issues my member site project has been delayed but check back as I will provide updates to my progress and things get done.

Although I’ve already participated in the comprehensive Blog Mastermind Program I decided to take Yaro & Gideon on their discount offer to students and joined so I could give you a review of their new program that is targeted at beginning and novice bloggers.

One of the things I really liked about the new program interface is that it is clean and easy to navigate (unlike some of the programs I participate in where it is easy to get lost).

As you can see the navigation bar at the top helps you to navigate throughout the program pages without a problem.

Further down the page are the first seven steps to your blogging success. There are:

Step 1: Initial Setup

This section focuses on making sure everyone is up to speed and on a equal play field-which will make it easier for teaching members. Essentially they ask members to watch the BecomeABlogger.Com free tutorial videos.

If you are not familiar with the BecomeABlogger.Com series the free videos cover the following topics:

1. Why you should use WordPress
2. How to get your own domain name
3. How to get a web host
4. How to install WordPress
5. How to upload files to your webhost using FTP
6. Choosing a WordPress theme for your new blog
7. How to install and use WordPress plugins
8. How to create your first blog post and blog page
9. What is RSS and why you need it
10. How to use Feedburner for supercharging your RSS capabilities

Step 2: Review Course Outline

This is an overview of the training course with nine modules to help prepare  you for upcoming lessons. Each module include videos to help you learn quickly and easily and include such topics such as how to optimize your blog for maximum performance and interesting discussions and examples of how to use photos, audios, and videos effectively.

In addition you’ll find information about how to create powerful content, create multiple streams of traffic, and using the X-Factor strategies outlined in the Road Map to Becoming A Blogger.

Step 3: Master the Mindset Audios

The Master the Mindset Audios is a great set of information taken from the Blog Mastermind Coaching Program which includes ten different audios that deal with important topics and delve into things such as pillar content, marketing your blog, and many more.

Step 4: Weekly Video Tutorials

Each week members of the Become A Blogger Premium will be sent links to video tutorials for the week. You can move at a pace that is comfortable for you which is a big perk. It also keeps you moving because the regular emails remind you to keep working!

Step 5: Ask Questions in the Forums

Members have access to valuable membership forums where you can discuss your blog with Yaro, Gideon, mentors, and other students. I find this to be very valuable as you can find help and also discover that others may be facing the same challenges. The sharing of ideas and encouragement is awesome.

Step 6: Make Money

If you like the program you can become an affiliate for this program and receive money for each sale that you make. Clickbank is discussed.

Step 7: Come Back Regularly

Since this program is new, both Yaro & Gideon will work to add new information on a regular basis according to the need.

In this section you get new and exciting announcments.

So there is your overview of the new BecomeABlogger.Com Premium try it now!

The new buzz online is about the long awaited release of the Roadmap to Become A Blogger–a free resource to help those who want to blog which also invites readers join in the premium program that will open up on December 4, 2008.

I first met Yaro during a teleseminar as part of a public relations program I participated in and I’ve written about Yaro Starak and his Blog Mastermind Program before and I was excited when I received a preview copy of the Road Map to Become A Blogger.

Just as I thought, the eBook was filled with valuable information and NEW content. In this work Yaro Starak & Gideon Gideon Shalwick reveal a step-by-step road map to blog success and thirteen “X-Factor” strategies that you can implement immediately to stand out from the crowd.

Now because I signed up with Yaro early on (right after the PR teleseminar) I was invited to become part of two of his Beta Programs so I can personally tell you that you’ll get a huge amount of value in this free ebook and through the videos–which I was able to preview when he first launched BecomeABlogger.com.

Whether or not you do join the premium Become A Blogger Program–you’ll learn a lot from the videos and eBook. But I hope you do take Yaro & Gideon up on this amazing offer and grab your free copy of the Road Map to Become A Blogger now.

Be sure to also check out the Blog Mastermind Program and Membership Mastermind Programs along the way and take advantage of the premium offer–I know it is going to be fabulous.