Okay, so I'm following my own advice and moving my interests to my own self-hosted domain, check it out at http://www.forgetthemoney.com
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012
Getting Started - Work now for money later
Okay, so it's no secret and you don't need to buy some guide spelling out the secrets on how to make money online.
The concept is simple:
Step 1 - Set up a website
Step 2 - Sell something
Step 3 - Make money
Within each of those steps though there are innumerable options and no single option is the best. Let's break down each step a little bit.
Step 1 - Set up a website
Your options here are bigger than you might think because you simply need some space online to display your message or product. First and most obvious choice is to purchase a domain name, purchase some hosting, and put some pages there. If you go that route you have almost complete control over your little bit of online realty depending on the hosting packages you purchased. Placing pages on your site may be a variety of options such as creating simple HTML pages, installing Wordpress or some other blogging software, or using a CMS (Content Management System) such as Joomla, or even adding some other PHP software designed to serve up webpages. PHP is a programming language for websites that can deliver advanced content, such as a classifieds directory. If you like getting technical with things, or know someone else that does, this is a very viable option, and one that I prefer when possible. It costs more but it's worth it.
However; you don't necessarily always need a whole website. For example you're reading a blog post on a free blog service called Blogger and it's run by Google. There are certain restrictions to the content I can post, but it works, and it's free. I've run several short blogs on Blogger before and without even trying to make money I've made a few dollars from advertising, but more on that in the next section. You can also choose to use a free host, such as Sitesled, to contain your content. I've used Sitesled for quite a few years to maintain a personal page, but never tried to make any money from it. You can also write and submit articles to various article directories which I've heard of working for some marketers but I've never personally done it. No matter which direction you go make sure you read the terms and conditions of the site carefully to make sure it will support your business plan. The point is to find some place online where you can legally display your message.
Step 2 - Sell Something
Now you've opened a can of worms. If you have something to sell you're good to go. Physical products can often be sold from your own website but you can also register as a seller on Amazon.com in many situations. I've used Clickbank to sell digital products, i.e. a product you can download. You also don't necessarily need to sell your own products. You may find some great products online often offer an affiliate program where you can get a commission from every paying customer that your links send to them.
But just having something to sell isn't all there is to selling something. You'll need to advertise. Many good marketers rely primarily on "organic" traffic to their sites, traffic from search engines. Unless you're the only one writing about a particular topic (referred to as a niche site), you're going to have a lot of competition to get a lot of traffic from the search engines. There are plenty of free advertising options on the Internet, but I've gotten very little traffic to any links I've posted to them. Most of your best traffic will likely be through paid advertising. Another method is "viral advertising" and takes a lot of practice. Viral advertising is like word of mouth advertising, having something that everybody just wants to see for some reason or another, whether it's funny, amazing, or even offensive. Viral marketing aims for an emotional response that people will want to share with other people.
Step 3 - Make Money
This is the last step of the process, and will take the longest of anything. Do not expect to get instant results. You may spend a lot of your time fine-tuning your advertising to get the best possible results. Take a look at the advertising around this page and note what catches your eye and what makes you want to click on it. Obviously you don't want to copy it exactly but take some time to think about why you like it, or even why you don't. For a site like this you'll probably see a lot of ads making some ludicrous claims about making a lot of money fast. If you're looking for an opportunity like this you might want to check out and advertise an MLM scheme, such as Wealth2Xtreme.
The concept is simple:
Step 1 - Set up a website
Step 2 - Sell something
Step 3 - Make money
Within each of those steps though there are innumerable options and no single option is the best. Let's break down each step a little bit.
Step 1 - Set up a website
Your options here are bigger than you might think because you simply need some space online to display your message or product. First and most obvious choice is to purchase a domain name, purchase some hosting, and put some pages there. If you go that route you have almost complete control over your little bit of online realty depending on the hosting packages you purchased. Placing pages on your site may be a variety of options such as creating simple HTML pages, installing Wordpress or some other blogging software, or using a CMS (Content Management System) such as Joomla, or even adding some other PHP software designed to serve up webpages. PHP is a programming language for websites that can deliver advanced content, such as a classifieds directory. If you like getting technical with things, or know someone else that does, this is a very viable option, and one that I prefer when possible. It costs more but it's worth it.
However; you don't necessarily always need a whole website. For example you're reading a blog post on a free blog service called Blogger and it's run by Google. There are certain restrictions to the content I can post, but it works, and it's free. I've run several short blogs on Blogger before and without even trying to make money I've made a few dollars from advertising, but more on that in the next section. You can also choose to use a free host, such as Sitesled, to contain your content. I've used Sitesled for quite a few years to maintain a personal page, but never tried to make any money from it. You can also write and submit articles to various article directories which I've heard of working for some marketers but I've never personally done it. No matter which direction you go make sure you read the terms and conditions of the site carefully to make sure it will support your business plan. The point is to find some place online where you can legally display your message.
Step 2 - Sell Something
Now you've opened a can of worms. If you have something to sell you're good to go. Physical products can often be sold from your own website but you can also register as a seller on Amazon.com in many situations. I've used Clickbank to sell digital products, i.e. a product you can download. You also don't necessarily need to sell your own products. You may find some great products online often offer an affiliate program where you can get a commission from every paying customer that your links send to them.
But just having something to sell isn't all there is to selling something. You'll need to advertise. Many good marketers rely primarily on "organic" traffic to their sites, traffic from search engines. Unless you're the only one writing about a particular topic (referred to as a niche site), you're going to have a lot of competition to get a lot of traffic from the search engines. There are plenty of free advertising options on the Internet, but I've gotten very little traffic to any links I've posted to them. Most of your best traffic will likely be through paid advertising. Another method is "viral advertising" and takes a lot of practice. Viral advertising is like word of mouth advertising, having something that everybody just wants to see for some reason or another, whether it's funny, amazing, or even offensive. Viral marketing aims for an emotional response that people will want to share with other people.
Step 3 - Make Money
This is the last step of the process, and will take the longest of anything. Do not expect to get instant results. You may spend a lot of your time fine-tuning your advertising to get the best possible results. Take a look at the advertising around this page and note what catches your eye and what makes you want to click on it. Obviously you don't want to copy it exactly but take some time to think about why you like it, or even why you don't. For a site like this you'll probably see a lot of ads making some ludicrous claims about making a lot of money fast. If you're looking for an opportunity like this you might want to check out and advertise an MLM scheme, such as Wealth2Xtreme.
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