Although most of the content I create for you here at Gain Higher Ground is in the form of “how-to” articles, videos and audios, I thought it would be useful to occasionally update you on exactly what I’m up in my own online business!

So, in this post I’m going to share the following key things with you:

1. My stock market product launch
2. Email list building for this blog
3. Setting up my limited company and bank account
4. Facebook marketing

Right, let’s get started…!

1. Stock Market Product Launch

I blogged about my activities in the stock market trading niche back in January but if you didn’t catch that article then all you really need to know is this:

• I’ve designed and created a training course for people who want to learn to trade the stock market from home.
• The product will be marketed to the e-mail list of my joint venture partners.

Although my background is in stock trading and investment management (so I know what I’m doing with the product itself), the marketing side of things is an extremely steep learning curve for me.

For this reason it’s great to be working with my more experienced joint venture partners and no matter what niche you are looking to work in I would thoroughly recommend this approach if you are considering creating and marketing an information product of your own.

After some frantic work and some last minute alterations to the product, we went live on Monday with the beta testing phase!

The idea here is to allow a small but diverse group of people (approximately 15) to try out the product for free. In return, these individuals provide feedback which is incredibly useful to us to improve the product and iron-out any glitches before we go-ahead with the full launch.

The beta testers were recruited from the e-mail list of my JV partners and there were well over 200 applications, so unfortunately there are a lot of people we had to turn down. Also, as it is important to get a diverse range of people to test the product, we selected both experienced and inexperienced stock market traders.

Admittedly it is early days but so far things are going very well and the vast majority of the feedback has been very positive (phew!).

However, what I’m really looking for is areas of the product where I have not explained things as well as I could have or even parts of the core trading system that could be improved.

Overall, I want to do everything possible to over-deliver and provide as much value as possible to customers when we launch.

2. E-Mail List Building For This Blog

Over the past 3 weeks, most of my time not spent on the stock market product has been devoted to growing the email list of subscribers here at Gain Higher Ground.

The main purpose for doing this is to increase my long term audience: It’s fine to have people visit your website on a one-off basis but I am really committed to building a group of followers with which I can build a relationship and deliver consistent value to.

There is so much hype in this industry with “magic button” solutions, most of which significantly under-deliver in my personal experience. These products are so dominant and heavily marketed, that I really believe there is a gap in the market for something different.

As time progresses I hope this will allow me to find out what you really want from an internet marketer like me. If you have any thoughts on this I’d love to hear from you either in the comments section below or privately via the GHG contact page.

In the months to come I shall also consider if there are any paid products that I could create that would be useful to people. However, given my time-consuming activities within the stock market niche I have no plans for this at all at the present time…

So, before you start sweating and stop reading I can assure you that there will be nothing but more 100% free articles, videos and audios coming your way in the near future!

In terms of list building I have been focusing on the following so far:

Offering Free Content To Other Websites And Blogs

Of course, this strategy is commonly known as Guest Posting and as I explained recently I consider it a great way to build the audience for your blog. So far I’ve seen some good success with this method of promotion.

Classified Ads

There are a number of sites I’m signed up for here, most notable Craigslist and USFreeAds. I think this strategy has legs but, unlike guest posting, it does not create a flood of traffic straightaway. Or, at least for it hasn’t for me! More of a slow burner this one, but I will persist and it will be interesting to see how things pan out…

Online Giveaway Events

As the name implies these events involve marketers giving away ebooks, videos, audios and software totally free of charge to anyone who cares to come along and pick up them up.

Mmmm, so what’s in it for the marketers you might ask?

Excellent question! The short answer is new subscribers to their email lists.

You see, in order to receive any of the free gifts a person needs to sign up to the list of the marketer that is providing them.

A fair swap I think and of course the person can unsubscribe at any time if they wish. If they choose to do this then they still get to keep the free gifts so I think this method of marketing is very ethical indeed.

I am currently working as a contributor to a giveaway event which is happening this coming Friday. I’ll email you with the details closer to the time in case you fancy getting your hands on any of the freebies that will be offered.

3. Limited Company & Business Bank Account

For many months now I’ve been using my own personal bank account to manage my expenses and revenues from my online business.

However, I’m pleased to say that I’ve finally manage to set up Gain Higher Ground Limited (a UK-based company) together with a small business bank account (with HSBC).

I say “finally” because I really should have done this before now! However, I procrastinated and put it off to the point where it really had to be done – especially as my product launch approaches and my future plans grow.

4. Facebook

I have received some feedback from readers that has pointed out the lack of social media icons here at Gain Higher Ground.

Where on earth are the Facebook and “Follow me on twitter” buttons?!

Well, the answer is a mix of procrastination (oops, again!) and a conscious decision to not prioritise social media and concentrate on other traffic strategies mentioned in the list building section above.

This said, I have signed up for a Facebook training course which is taking place in London the weekend after next.

It’s called The Greatest Facebook Show On Earth (quite a title!) so I am very much looking forward to getting the GHG Facebook page up and running straight after, or even during, this event…

In the coming weeks, I’ll update you on how this goes along with the other strategies that I’ve talked about in this post – so stay tuned. 😉

In the meantime, if you look below, you’ll notice that I have strategically placed Facebook “Like” buttons on each of my posts. So, if you have enjoyed this article then please feel free to press “Like” (only if you did genuinely enjoy it though!)!

And as always, I’ll be happy to hear your opinions, chat and answer any of your questions in the comments section below.

Cheers! Rob.