I don’t read many magazines, reading most of my content and feature content online.

Besides reading the print edition of Singapore’s major English daily, The Straits Times, which comes with weekly tech, fashion and lifestyle “magazines”, on the rare occasion, I check out:

• Revenue (I read the online digital edition when I can)
• Skymall catalogue found on most domestic flights
• Tabloids like US, People

Tabloids and rag mags are a good opportunity to conduct niche research, especially for FMCG (fast moving consumer goods). You can find out which are the hot jeans, perfumes/fragrances, electronic items and build a niche themed site within a couple of hours.

Depending on how hot the trend is, you could reap affiliate or CPA commissions for a couple of weeks or even more than a year, if you trendspot correctly.

The other thing is magazine preferences reveal a lot of a person’s personality. Kris and Lee Odden have a fairly strategic/macro type approach (having leading their own respective business organizations), but more so from their choices of the Smithsonian, Forbes, Inc., while younger guys like Shoemoney and Joe Whyte go for more topical/news type publications like Playboy, Wired, Maxim, Stuff.

To propagate this meme, I tag:

• Laura Alter
• Michelle MacPhearson (who was a good sport to take part in the Goals meme)
• Sleepyblogger Robyn Tippins
• Social Traffic Queen Alex Mayo
• PlanetAndrea

I’ve had the chance to talk to a number of aspiring Internet Marketers (aspiring because they haven’t started yet) over the past couple of weeks and frankly, I’m shocked at some of the expectations.

“I want you to set up an online business, which will make me lots of money on a long term basis, and I don’t have to do anything. Oh yeah, and I’m not willing to pay you much for it”

I don’t know about you, but some people are seriously out of touch with reality…

If there are expectations that someone would spent time and resources creating online businesses which generate huge, long term income and do it on the cheap, there is a major disconnect with reality.

And we’re not even talking about the 15 minute worth of setup for niche research, traffic gen and monetization efforts Kris Jones alluded to during Elite Retreat which I mentioned in “PepperJam’s Kris Jones Dishes Out Super Affiliate Marketing Tips” yesterday.

The expectations I am talking about are to have a complete, turnkey, self-sustaining business where all they have to do is to sit back and count their profits every day.

If you’ve every had these thoughts, or even worse still harbor them, please note, you could be setting yourself up for business suicide if these are your thoughts about Internet Marketing.

There’s an adage that goes:

If you do nothing, nothing will happen.

If you do something, something will happen.

“Something” may not always be what you want, or even what you expect, but “something” goes beyond earning your first $10 off an affiliate marketing, CPA or adsense campaign.

“Something” often translates into cold hard experience, which goes beyond what any ebook, system, seminar, workshop or coaching program can give you.

Obviously it’s helpful if you’ve a guide like the Internet Millionaire Code to help you along the way, which is where finding the right mentor, or the right group can help shorten your learning curve.

If you have the opportunity to spend time with someone who’s already achieved what you’re aiming for, take the next step to study how they achieved it.

Some make the mistake of “parroting” their mentor’s campaign. The honest to goodness truth is that if something has already been done, there’s a diminishing return if you do it again. There’s a “lifespan” attached to techniques and strategies and if you keep doing the same thing (or repeat what someone else has done) over and over again, eventually you’ll reach the point where you literally get nothing for your efforts.

Which is why the strategies in products like the Internet Millionaire Code will shorten your learning curve.

The biggest challenge facing new Internet Marketers will not be a financial one, nor a technical one, but rather what I outlined in “Why 90% of Internet Marketers Fail“

PepperJam head honcho Kris Jones and Andrew Wee at Affiliate Summit West, Jan 2007

If you’ve been reading the PepperJamBlog for any length of time, you’d discover a treasure trove of information and can bump up your Internet Marketing efforts.

In his latest post “Affiliate Marketing – Thinking Outside the Box“, Kris dishes out the dirt on how he recently executed a campaign grossing $30,000 in sales, netting $15,000 in profit. And while some Super Affiliates may net six or seven figures in income per month, consider that Kris spent 15 minutes setting up this campaign.

So Kris has made a killing off UGG Boots.

How would he further enhance his efforts?

Using a psychographic approach to define the profile of the customers, perhaps they’re outdoor adventurers.

I’m sure most of them would need socks to go with that. Perhaps a speciality padded sock which minimizes Achilles heel injuries. If they love the great outdoors, they might be looking for a quality compass, or what about a set of walkie talkies?

If they’re buying the boots for winter use, would something like the Oakley Razor Blades be a complimentary product? Or a stylish Thinsulate clothing accessory or jacket?

By profiling your customer base and crossselling and upselling related items to them, you can effectively double and triple your profile, with ZERO acquisition cost (you’re already ‘acquired’ and pre-qualified them with their first purchase).

If you do a survey and collect their preferences, you can get the basis to develop an information product, which address their questions with pinpoint accuracy.

Perhaps boots aren’t your thing?

It’s an easy matter to use a tool like Google Trends to scope out trend hotspots and prepare your campaign to monetize the trend easily.

If nothing else, focusing on the core business basics will keep you very comfortable and if you’re look for inspiration for your next campaign, check out Jo Han Mok’s Internet Millionaire Code.