There’s a lot of be said about focusing on a specific niche, but if your niche is too narrow you may not have a large enough market to build the kind of business you really want.

I’m kind of in that boat right now.

My niche is game programmers who use the Corona SDK framework. But as wildly fanatic as Corona developers can be, there are only so many of them. My business has been good, but it didn’t seem like there was a ton of room for growth. And now with two competitors offering the same kind of tool I’ve been selling, it’s going to be even harder.

I have two options and I’ve been brainstorming both of them:

1. Stay focused on Corona SDK developers but come up with more products to sell into that market.

2. Sell my existing tool into other gaming markets to developers who use a different framework.

Both options have their pros and cons and I’ve changed my mind about which direction to go several times in the past week.

The marketer in me thinks option #1 is better because I already have a foothold and selling new products to existing customers is usually easier than finding new customers to begin with.

But the programmer in me thinks option #2 is best because it means I get to play with more game development languages. Plus, the marketer in me agrees that expanding they pool of potential customers is no small thing.

I have to make a decision soon so I can get focused on my new direction.

At this point I’m not sure whether it’ll come down to flipping a coin, or what. :)

Today I read an interesting article called, “What is the Everyman’s PC?” by Ben Brooks.

“It’s easy to see why one would argue that the iPad could be better suited for most people than a MacBook Air, but a cellphone? That seems like a stretch, right?”

An iPhone is a very cool phone, but a computer? No way.

That may be your initial reaction, but I ran an experiment today…

I paired my iPhone 4S with my wireless Bluetooth keyboard and sat down in my recliner. Then I mirrored my iPhone onto my 42″ HDTV. You can do that if you have one of those little Apple TV boxes hooked up.

Over the next little bit I read and replied to email, browsed some web sites, checked in on Facebook, and wrote an article.

All things most “normal people” do everyday with their computers. But my computer in this case was my iPhone. With the addition of a keyboard and a (giant) monitor I had almost the full computer experience. Enough to see that, for a lot of people, it could be a replacement for an actual computer.

Most people wouldn’t choose to do that, but someone with a limited budget or limited space could do it and probably be pretty happy.

Do your email, check out some web sites, then pop your computer into your pocket and head to the store.

Awesome. :)

I’ve been the owner of a Kindle Fire for just about 12 hours now so I don’t have a lot of experience, but my initial reaction — overall — is that it’s the wrong size.

At the risk of being called a fanboy (or even fanboi) I think Steve Jobs was right about 7″ tablets not being a good size. (Now watch them come out with one…) Here’s why:

If I’m in a “mobile” situation, stopped at a red light, standing in line, etc., my iPhone is the perfect size. And if I’m in a “settled” situation like sitting in bed or on the couch, I’d rather have the large screen of the iPad.

The middle size of the Fire is too large for mobile and too small for stationary.

As far as usability goes, it’s fine. There are some stuttering and things that happen that make me realize I take don’t notice the smoothness of the iPad and/or iOS until it’s gone. And while I don’t know what the actual weight is, it feels heavier than my iPad with the case. Maybe the Fire feels heavy because it’s too big to grip comfortably in one hand, and the bezel is too small to hold comfortably that way.

I bought the Kindle because I need the device to be able to test my games on it, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have bothered. It’s not a bad device, but if you need a tablet and can possibly swing it (price wise) go ahead and get an iPad.

Update Jan 14, 2012

A few days later and I may need to rethink my opposition to the size of the Fire. Since then I’ve used it several times each day and even carried it with me on one outing instead of the iPad (okay, I had the iPad in the car just in case, but didn’t touch it).

When the iPad came out people claimed it was a “consumption device” and not suitable for creating content or doing real work. That idea has been knocked completely out of the ballpark but I’d say that description is a good one for the Kindle Fire.

Reading books, watching movies, playing games — those things all work fine. But I wouldn’t want to have to update a web site, type more than a short email, etc., on a Kindle Fire. I can take my iPad to a coffee shop for a few hours and get a lot of actual work done — that’s not the kind of thing you’d want to do with a Fire.

I still find the size awkward and the web browser is too small to really use for “browsing”, but as an extra tablet it’s nice to have around.

Laptops are outselling desktop machines (by a huge margin) and tablets (iPads, specifically) are being used to replace laptops by more and more people.

I can see a time within a couple years (yeah, that soon) where the only computer most people will need will be an iPhone.

Sidebar: Yeah, someone using Android could pull off what I’m suggesting, but Apple has a proven track record of doing more cool things. Sorry, just a fact.

A “home computer” could consist of a monitor and a keyboard — and your iPhone. Sit down in front of the keyboard and connect your iPhone to the monitor — that could be as simple as tapping the phone against the the monitor. It’s wireless — and iPhones can already mirror what’s on their screens.

And iPhones already talk to Bluetooth keyboards. So right now, today, you can actually do 90% of what I’m talking about.

What’s missing is a way to use a touchpad to control the “cursor” on the screen — of course, while the iPhone is sending its signal to the HDTV/monitor, it could be used as a regular touchpad that controls an on-screen cursor, so that piece is easy for Apple to add.

Your iPhone is powerful enough to do 100% of what 90% of people use computers for:

• Listening to and watching audio/video
• Reading
• Browsing web sites
• Using Facebook
• Email
• Playing games

Am I missing anything? Isn’t that about the extent of what *most* people do with a computer?

With a system like that in place you could be at someone’s house and check your email, update your Facebook status, etc., without needing to log in and out of someone’s computer — because you’re using the computer in your pocket.

Make the monitors just a little bit “smart” so they can watch for nearby iPhones and when you walk up to one it can ask if you want to connect — wirelessly, of course.

Right now I can do a lot of my computing on my iPhone and/or iPad but I have different data on those devices than on my desktop computer. Cloud storage helps with that problem to some extent, but I’m looking forward to the day when someone (Apple, probably) puts all the pieces together into a really compelling package.

I’ve written a LOT of tools over the years but the ones I use day in and day out are the following (and you’ll notice these are all aimed at creating and promoting products):

Article Architect – While I don’t do tons of article marketing anymore (I do it, but it’s very focused — no more shotgun approach for me) I create content all the time, and I still do most of my writing in AA. It’s one place where I can find all my content and then auto-post it to my WordPress blog or export and upload as an HTML web page.

Sonic Sneak – I’ve been cloaking and tracking my links for years and it’s probably the single best task I’ve ever done. At any time I can look at my dashboard and see which sources are bringing me the traffic. Is it a post on my blog? An article? A forum message? With Sonic Sneak behind the scenes I never have to guess about that, I simply know.

Instant Video Web Pages – Web video is a proven workhorse, whether you’re using it to promote a product, show someone how to use some software, or giving people a glimpse at how clever your cat can be. And since we should make use of it, I created IVWP to make it brain-dead simple to not just put up a video, but put up a complete video web page. Fill in the blanks, choose a template, and boom, it just works.

Product Creation Station – Finally, while I don’t “use” this actual product on a daily basis, the ideas and knowledge that went into creation of this course is what I use to create all the products I crank out. If you want a comprehensive course on info product creation, delivered on a weekly basis, PCS is perfect for you.

If there’s one thing I’ve preached in the years I’ve been doing internet marketing it’s to reuse and repurpose the content you create. I’m not a big fan of using PLR materials for much when it’s really pretty easy to create your own content.

And once you have that original, unique content, you can put it to use in many different ways.

Here’s a perfect example:

Article Marketing Explained on Amazon

Click that link and you’ll be taken to amazon.com where you’ll see a new ebook on article marketing. While some material is new, the bulk of it was created with content I wrote a year or two ago for a different project (membership web site).

Over the weekend I pulled together the materials, wrote some “glue” content to pull things together, and submitted it to the Kindle book store. Today it’s available.

And honestly, I didn’t know what a thrill it would be to see my name and ebook on amazon.com until I opened the page in my browser. :)

I have no idea how sales will be, but the point is that I did most of the work previously and used the content for one project (or more), and now for this project that I can just set and forget. Amazon handles all the sales, order-fulfillment, etc., so I can turn my attention to other projects.

Actually, one of my next projects is to take the same content and either turn it into an ebook app for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad, or get it into the Apple iBooks store.

If you’ve followed my blog for very long you know that, for the last several years, I’ve focused on making tools for internet marketers. While it’s been a fun journey, last year I started missing the game development field — that’s how I got started in computer programming back in the 80s. So for the last 6-8 months I’ve been splitting my time between marketing and gaming.

But it looks like that may be about to change. :)

I’ve been approached by a company that wants to buy one of my tools and hire me to continue working on it for them. And while I’ve *loved* being self-employed and had no intention of “looking for a job,” this company is one I strongly believe in and have dreamed about being a part of the team. What they are doing is awesome.

If this deal goes through I’ll be dropping off the face of the earth in the next couple months — as far as “internet marketing” goes. All of my tools will be taken off the market and I’ll continue updating and supporting only those people who have already purchased.

Instead of working on “this and that” I’ll be focusing on basically one thing — and it’s something that will change the world for a lot of people. (Okay, we’re not talking about “cure for cancer” kind of stuff, but it honestly will change people’s fortunes/futures.)

Hopefully this will all come about within the next month or so and as soon as I’m able to reveal the details I’ll post them here.

If you can’t tell, I’m *very* excited about the possibilities!

What Next for This Blog?

I’ve already started posting some non-marketing things on this blog, so probably I’ll just morph this into a more personal site, rather than one that’s business (internet marketing) oriented. I’m actually looking forward to a separation of Jay the person and Jay the business. :)

The marketing tools I’ve created will still continue to work for the people who are using them. If you’re a member of Sonic Toolkit or Instant Video Web Pages you will see no changes (other than future updates). It’s just that very soon I won’t be taking on any new marketing-oriented customers.

It’s been a fun ride but I think the train is pulling into the station. And quite possibly my ship is waiting for me at the dock. :)

Today I was reading comments on a blog and came across one that mostly encapsulates what I hate about the whole internet marketing scene:

This video presentation is clear and concise. But I must ask one question, where does one start? I purchased your continuity program — great information. But I just don’t know where to start. I’ve studied internet marketing for almost three years now but have never really acted on it. From experts like AAA to BBB to CCC and DDD I’ve studied their styles. Some I’ve purchased from but so far no one compares to you. So I need the real deal truth. WHERE DOES ONE START?

Please don’t get me wrong, it’s not the person who asked the question that gets my dander up, it’s everybody who sells an IM product without pointing out that you can’t market on the internet unless you have something to market.

Where does one start? With a product.

If you don’t have a product to sell then you don’t need to worry about where to start. It’s like saying you’re into motorcycle racing but you don’t know where to start — and you don’t even have a motorcycle.

Internet marketing isn’t a *thing* in and of itself — it’s a way of doing business. It’s leveraging the blogs, links, articles, PPC, etc., — opportunities that either aren’t available in the “real world” or are prohibitively expensive — to promote a product and make sales.

Internet marketing is promoting and selling a product via the internet.

If you don’t have a product, you don’t need to keep spending money on internet marketing tools and techniques.

If you want to “be an internet marketer” then you MUST have something to market. It can be a product that someone else has created, and you promote it as an affiliate. You use the internet to market that product and then earn a commission when someone buys because of you. That’s a legitimate way to “do” internet marketing.

But not nearly the most fun or profitable way.

For that you need to create your own product (or have it created for you, same thing). And I can almost hear the echo of the follow-up cry…

“What kind of product?!”

I know this is going to sound trite, but it’s something ignored by a LOT of failed marketers (online and off) — the kind of product you want to create is whatever your target market wants and will pay for.

No matter how vital you think that product is, if they don’t want what it, you make no sales. No matter how great you think that product is, if they won’t pay for it, you make no sales.

How do you find out what people want and will pay for? Listen. Pay attention. That’s the secret, right there.

My most recent product is an “integrated development environment” for a programming language people use to create iPhone, iPad, and Android games. How did I find out that product was needed and would sell?

I was in that group, myself.

I was one of the people complaining on the development forums about having to code everything by hand and I realized there was an opportunity. Most of the “research” was already done for me because I could see in the forums what people were wanting and that they were ready to pay for something that could “ease their pain.”

And that’s the follow-up secret. If you don’t already know what product is needed, open your eyes in whatever activities you participate in. Whether it’s quilting, youth soccer, cooking, homeschooling, etc., there are “gaps” that people complain about. There are areas/tasks that are hard or time-consuming.

In many cases those problems are opportunities for you to capitalize on. You can “ease the pain” of people and make money at the same time.

You may find that a physical product is needed – you can still use the internet to market that product. In many cases information is the product, and not only can that be marketed using the internet, it can be delivered via the internet.

So, where does one start?

With a product. Period.

If you don’t have one, you need to get/make one.

There is a lot of info available on how to create products out there, make sure you get a good one. I think mine is the best, it’s called Product Creation Station and it walks you through creating info products using PDF, audio, and video.

But even if you use a different guide, please realize that if you want to BE an internet marketer, if you want to DO internet marketing, you need a product before anything else can happen.

Instant Video Web Pages now gives you one more way to share your videos with the world — it now generates QR Codes.

If you don’t know why you’d want a QR Code, this feature isn’t for you. But if it comes up in the future, now you’ll know that IVWP already has it in place! :)

(Pssst! QR Codes are a way to put URLs (and other data) in printed material offline. QR Readers in phones see the images with their camera and link a person directly to a site or video.)

There’s a blog post on a site called Game Dev Nation that’s applicable to internet marketers as much as to programmers:

How Being A Lazy Bum Can Be A Good Thing

“Working Lazy” is a tactic that all the major marketers practice, whether it’s outsourcing, reusing content, etc.

That blog post is less than 500 words in length but well worth the read.