Don’t know about you but I really look forward to watching The Apprentice on TV each week. Because it almost always offers a lesson in online marketing.

Take the recent episode where the two teams were charged by The Donald with making money any way they could selling services to dog owners.

Drama aside, the team that lost was a so called "one trick pony". They pinned their success on one thing - dog washing. A good idea but not quite good enough. Because the winning team not only offered dog washing but dog massage plus nail clipping too. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that by offering a variety of services they earned three times as much.

Income diversification is also a winning strategy online. One I mention to all who will listen. That’s because it’s dangerous to depend on one product’s cash flow for your site’s survival.

So here are three ways to avoiding the fate of most one trick ponies.

===== > Promote Your Own Product

I strongly believe you should have your own product to promote.

Ideally something digitally delivered like an eBook or software? This way your "bread and butter" can’t suddenly be taken away from you should the product owner decide to no longer use affiliates. Which happens you know?

Even better it’s smart to develop a higher priced back end product that offers even more help. Doing so knowing that if you offer a high quality product a certain percentage will want even more ideas and solutions from you. And these back end sales are the easiest kind.

Oh and don’t think I didn’t hear that groan two paragraphs ago. But anyone can develop a starter info product in 24 hours.

• Develop a list of 25 pressing questions those in your niche want answered.

• Have a friend interview you for an hour over the phone asking you those questions.

• You provide insightful answers while taping the call.

• Transcribe the audio tape and convert the text into a PDF file.

There you go - nearly instant product. If it sells flesh it out further and raise the price to reflect the added value. If not try again with another topic.

===== > Promote Related Affiliate Products

But what if your visitors don’t want YOUR product? Well, don’t let them slip through your fingers without a fight. In this case affiliate products ARE the perfect solution.

Because a site focusing on weddings can not only sell a wedding planning book it can also offer one on how to throw a bridal shower. Or another how to get the best deal on your honeymoon.

Now to find such related eBooks available at Clickbank I use Affiliates Alert. It’s time saving software that runs from your desktop. With it you can find top selling products by keyword or commission payout by searching the entire Clickbank Marketplace or just a selected category. Best of all you can download it for free from http://www.AffiliatesAlert.com.

===== > Cash in on Waste Traffic

Still not every visitor is going to buy from you no matter how many tempting solutions you dangle in front of them. In fact the vast majority won’t. But that doesn’t mean you still can’t make money off them.

The most common way to cash in on waste traffic is to use Google’s Adsense. That’s where you display Google Adwords ads on your site for some unspecified cut of the action.

The nice thing about Adsense is you can be up and running in no time. All I do is incorporate the Adsense code in my page templates using SSI or server side includes. That way every new page added gives me more opportunities to make money.

Now if the mystical and magical nature of Adsense is a turnoff, there are other services that offer similar revenue sharing programs. Even better some, unlike Adsense, let you specify the keywords you wish to target. Here's a short list of them.

• Searchfeed http://www.searchfeed.com

• RevenuePilot http://www.revenuepilot.com

• AllPPC http://www.allppc.com

• BidClix http://www.bidclix.com

• Azoogle Ads http://www.azoogleads.com

Of course maybe you don’t want to settle for pennies and would rather shoot for dollars? Okay so what if the ads served up were for ClickBank products? Here are several ways to do that.

• CBAdwords http://www.cbclicks.com

• ClickAdWords http://www.clickadwords.com

• CB Ad Generator http://www.procoversdeluxe.com/cbgenerator

The thing to remember about Adsense, or any of the alternatives, is visitors can’t click on the listings if they can’t see ‘em. So make sure you display the listings front and center. In the visitor’s face. If at all possible within the actual page content. For sure not at the bottom or below the fold somewhere lost in the recesses of the web page.

So there you have it. Three ways to diversify your online marketing efforts. Play your cards right and you won’t end up washing dogs for a living.

Copyright 2004 John Gergye