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In my last post I explained how I’d bet the farm and signed up for the two latest, “next best things”, in Internet Marketing, NicheBluePrint 2.0 and The Magic Bullet System. If you haven’t heard of these products over the last few weeks are you sure you’re really involved involved in Internet Marketing?

Both products have been pushed relentlessly by the super affiliates, both products do very different things and I’ll start out by giving my FIRST impressions of NicheBluePrint 2.0 from Tim Godfrey and Steve Clayton.

Remember, the product was just launched today so this is by no means a complete review because I only had a chance to nose around and follow 10-12 of the initial videos and PDFs – and you get a LOT of material! Also, these are MY opinions and always bear in mind I’m a first time Internet Marketer. But first impressions count so here goes.

Right up front I’ll tell you that this course may NOT be suitable for Internet Marketing newbies. I’m betting a lot of people will dispute that but that’s the overriding feeling I got as I started out on the video training.

First the good points. The course is split into 9 modules and each of those modules (excluding the introductory module #1) contains a lot of material. As a training course it stands up quite well so far. Steve is very obviously a highly polished and smooth professional and he conveys this every time you see him on screen. Nothing is a problem, everything is relaxed, all is calm, just follow the steps and you’ll make out just fine. Every time he speaks he instils reassurance and confidence. Just watch the promo videos and you’ll see what I mean.

When you sign up you are presented with a very clean and well laid out interface and the steps you need to take are clearly set out.

The first couple of modules are the expected introduction and discussion about marketplaces, niches and micro-niches. There’s nothing new in the theory here, but then again the methods for finding a niche are fairly established whether you are using manual or automated methods. Check the search volume, check the competition, consider the intent in the keywords, and so on.

However, NicheBluePrint has a couple of special weapons to help you out at this stage. The Discover Niches tool and the Keyword Blueprint. More on these later.

There’s also a well established and active forum, which I believe is generally available to the public. Before I bought the product I thought making the forum public was a pretty gutsy move as it opens up the potential for a warts and all response from the user base. Steve Clayton appears to be very active on the forums and that can only be a good thing.

It’s when you get to Module #3 that the potential problems for newbies begin. The whole course revolves around drop-shipping and there’s a special tool provided, the Drop Shipping Blueprint, to help you identify and analyse drop-shippers in your chosen niche. But the end result of that tool is a telephone number where you are expected to call the wholesaler to arrange supply. Fine, that’s what the product is all about and there are videos and manuals to instruct on how to go about this process. But I’m just warning you, you’ll be directly negotiating with your suppliers – this is no quick form fill and affiliate scheme, this is real e-commerce. And you’ll be expected to sort out sales tax registrations and file other forms should you want to trade under a company name. Again, it’s to be expected given the nature of the system but it’s still a big departure from what you might be used to.

I’ve said there’s a ton of content and a great forum but I when I signed up and first logged-in I was overwhelmed by the sense of being on my own. I can’t put my finger on why that was the case. Maybe it’s because I recently came off the back of the outstanding Google Conquest series of webinars where the trainers speak to you live and you can talk to them via headset. NicheBluePrint is much more like dealing with an automated call centre, if you want to learn this – click that button, if you need help with that, click this button. Some people might prefer that but I for me you can’t beat direct contact. This isn’t a criticism, just an impression.

Getting back to the niche and keyword finding tools. There may well be thousands or millions of entries in the databases that underpin these tools but, try as I might, for each niche I was interested in the tool came up with little or no suggestions. All the typical stuff was there, dog training, XBox gaming. But once you strike beyond the very mainstream it’s a struggle. Again, bear in mind, I used the tool for about 30 minutes. These tools automate what can be a laborious manual process if you are using the Google Keyword Tool. But with the latter you will always find what you are looking for if you persevere. With the tools in NicheBluePrint you are limited by comparison and I couldn’t help thinking that the few good opportunities I managed to turn up would be quickly snapped up by everyone else using the system.

The databases on which these tools run will be constantly updated, apparently. So they will probably improve over time. Right now though, if I was looking for a niche I’d stick with Google just for the coverage.

I can’t say much about the Keyword Blueprint tool as I haven’t used it enough. But in my brief encounter it does appear to be a clever tool, but is it any better than Keyword Elite, I wonder? I’ll speak more about it when I settle on my niches.

I reiterate, this is a first impression and, to be fair, at the price I paid I believe there’s enough in the program to justify the cost in terms of the educational value alone. However, I’m not blown away. Maybe I’ll dig deeper and gain a better appreciation but right now, from what I’ve seen so far and based on the knowledge I’ve already picked up from other courses, there’s not much new here. It’s all presented very well and the tools are useful enough but I’m not shouting, “Wow!”

Tomorrow I’ll press on with more of the modules and manuals and I’ll introduce myself on the forum and see if I can gauge the feeling of the other fresh sign-ups. And I’ll also speak about a product from Tony Shepherd which weighs in at a mere 70 odd pages and a tiny fraction of the cost and yet, I feel, could be a more effective and realistic route for the newbie to set out in this business.

And, of course, I’ll be taking my first look at The Magic Bullet System.

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