By Grant Crowell,
Too often, web entrepreneurs today think of search as a one-way business, focusing solely on how to make money off of the search engines without understanding how search engines also need to make money in order to survive and thrive.
A special report from the Search Engine Strategies 2003 Conference, August 18-21, San Jose, CA.
Those attending the session, "Search Economics, Search Monetization Strategies," at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose this past August, heard representatives from Google, Yahoo, AskJeeves, and LookSmart give their side of the story. Each one spoke on how their company makes money from search, the economics and business of search in general, along with the factors for their own growth and monetization.
"From the point of view on Wall Street, search has been a great source of revenues and profit," said moderator Safa Rashtchy, Senior Research Analyst for U.S Bancorp Piper Jaffray. All four companies on the panel concurred, each reporting huge gains from the previous year.
"We are increasingly seeing companies -- that before were only doing brand types of advertising -- embrace search marketing as a good venue for them to get users and get business as well," observed Sheryl Sandberg, Vice President, Global Online Sales and Operations for Google.
Some of the core components of a search engine's monetization approach include the following:
•Relevancy before monetization. For some portals, search is their core business. For others, like Yahoo or AOL, it is part of a much broader business. To achieve maximum benefit out of any monetization strategy, a search engine company must keep the priority on relevancy (and diversity) of results; an updated, user-friendly interface; ever-increasing inventory; and improving the search tool's understanding of the audience's query type.
•Provide unique search technologies. A search engine has to consider what differentiates its search product from others, and whether or not it clearly provides a perceived value to both search users and advertisers.
One of AskJeeves' challenges was how to differentiate itself from the most well-know search engine - Google - by doing something unique with its own search product that people find appealing. "What differentiates us is that our audience is used to giving broader type queries," said Jim Diaz, SVP of Sales and Business Development for AskJeeves. "A substantial majority of people that come to our site will ask more than three words in a typical keyword query. That's substantially higher - even off the charts - compared to most search engines, where you typically get one or two queries."
"We're not trying to out-Google Google," added Diaz. "Unless your product is different and offers something unique to the user, it's going to be very difficult to make a name for yourself and stick around in the long-term."
•Encourage commercial search. Commercial search accounts for 30% of all search queries, according to Rashtchy's own research. However, the search engines find these queries to be just as complex as their non-commercial counterparts. "Search users articulate wide range of commercial needs," said Tim Cadogan, VP of Search for Yahoo Search. "That involves showing a decent quantity of relevant results, not just one or a couple. And for a significant portion of queries, users are expressing needs that businesses satisfy best."
•Present a diversity of vendors, partners, products, and sales channels. All search engine companies have created paid inclusion or paid placement programs to obtain broader reach for more targeted advertising audiences.
•Offer affordable or value-oriented pricing models. While search engines make no bones about going after the big fish, monetization strategies rely heavily on expanding opportunities for the majority of businesses. "We also have the opportunity for small-to-medium advertisers to sign up and get ads on their pages," stated Sandberg. "We're already seeing people who had pages on the Web - that they were not able to monetize before - are now able to monetize and target for the first time."
•Motivate advertisers to improve content and conversions. "There are always a lot more advertisers that want to show up for a commercial query than there is space available," said Tony Mamone, Vice President of Small Business Services for LookSmart. "By charging for that content, you're motivating that advertiser to improve on their own site. They're paying for that click, for the leads that are coming through. They're not going to want all-you-can-eat; they're going to want all that's relevant. It also calls out the bottom performers over time. And for those who request help, you can provide them with a team to assist with optimizing their content and making sure it is relevant and more productive."
•Globalize your ad market. Obtain a broader reach geographically and provide localized services for each region. "More than half of Google's 200 million searches each day are done internationally, outside of the US and Canada," said Sandberg. "Similarly, our advertising program has also gone global. At Google, you can target your ads for any country in the world. You can also pick your keywords in any language in the world. We even run our international advertising program with localized customer support in eleven languages and we take payment in six currencies."
•Keep operational expenses cost effective. Infrastructure to carry for so much search traffic can be very costly if not carefully supervised. Search engine companies must regular monitor peak usage times on their Web servers; improve on their software efficiency with Web servers; and limit the size and complexity of database sizes and complexity of the search nodes.
While many individual performance models were described, paid inclusion was a particular issue of contention between among audience members and the panelists. The search engines touted paid inclusion being one of the most effective monetization strategies that successfully delivers more relevant results. Yet some in the audience expressed concerns on how it might be affecting the relevancy of search results. "How can search results be relevant as Google's results if paid inclusion is such as important part of each of your programs?" one audience member asked.
"We believe paid inclusion actually helps us with commercial relevance," responded LookSmart's Mamone. "The best set of results sometimes is actually a set of results is from advertisers. Advertisers can equate to relevance for commercial query for the user."
Mamone also argued for paid inclusion having a self-regulating effect that creates more responsible advertisers. "If the listing does not lead to a conversion for the advertiser, then the advertiser will get out of that search result on their own. Whereas by contrast, if you had used techniques to show up through non-commercial areas (and not paying for volume), it is an 'all-you-can-eat' scenario that involves no responsibility. Through the paid inclusion model, the advertiser does have a responsibility to make sure the results are working for them."
Mamone addressed the flip side to that argument: knowing when a query is commercial and when the query is non-commercial. "It is something we've spent a lot of R&D around. When we have paid results, we want to make sure they only show up under paid queries. It is something we've gotten substantially better at over time in the last three years, but there's still progress to be made there."
"For Yahoo, we find paid inclusion helps drive quality of search results up," stated Cadogan. "Sites that have deep content, not normally accessed by crawlers, can have their information presented to the users."
Yahoo differed with LookSmart's point on commercial queries, stating that paid inclusion URLs don't go through any different relevancy process. "They are treated exactly the same way, as all the other URLs," replied Cadogan. "We're not worried about if a link is commercial or non-commercial, just as long as it is relevant. We trust the algorithim, which treats everything the same way and doesn't know if it's paid or not. We really view it as a benefit, rather than something we have to differentiate from."
When asked of Yahoo's intention to implement Inktomi's paid inclusion program on Yahoo, Cadogan remarked that it hasn't happened yet nor will it happen in the immediate future. "But we are looking at plans on when to do it," he said.
Google was the sole company on the panel that has no paid inclusion program, and reiterated that the company has no plans or intentions of incorporating one. "We believe the most relevant results come from naturally crawling the Web," said Google's Sandberg. "We do want to crawl the deep content and the dynamic pages, and we believe that by continually improving on Google's span and reach of our crawl, as well as how often we crawl, we can continue to provide relevant results for our users."
Cadogan offered some parting words for the audience on how major search engines view their monetization strategy as to the benefit of their advertisers, partners and users. "A search engine company's focus on the best user search experience first; the monetization strategy is not something that goes along side of the user experience. It is part of the user experience."
Grant Crowell is the CEO and Creative Director at Grantastic Designs, Inc., founded in 1993 in Honolulu. He has 15 combined years of experience in the fields of print and online design, newspaper journalism, public relations, and publications.
Rabu, 14 Oktober 2009
How to Make Money Online
by Shaun Connell
Welcome to one of the few “make money online” websites that actually encourages you to slow down and plan out your online journey.
If you’re looking for a get-rich-quick program, this page isn’t for you. But if you’re alright earning just a few dozen or hundreds of dollars from you computer per day, then this tutorial will guide you to earning an online income without having to leave your computer.
Most of the old-timers on the Internet know I’m talking about Project Payday. The project is basically when big companies will pay you money for “free” and Project Payday guides you through it.
You’ll see what I’m talking about. Just sign up and look around — it’s not rocket science. The reason I’m a fan of Project Payday is that…
•Project Payday is Free Money. Project Payday will teach you how to make money from big companies without spending hundreds — the ROI is incredibly higher than most of the competition.
•Project Payday is Garaunteed. If you don’t make $100 via Project Payday, just tell them and they’ll give you the money themselves. That’s the best part. You WILL make money.
I honestly wish that more of the “make money online” niche supported Project Payday, which is why I’ve partnered with them. You’ll see what I mean when you sign up.
The goal of this website is to explain exactly how to make money online, and how you can earn money by just signing up and reviewing products. I’ll be talking about the two ways I’ve earned money online — no theory, just actual instructions. Specifically, I’ll teach you how to:
•Make Money Fast With Project Payday.
•Build a Money-Making Website.
No, you don’t have to be a computer genius or have vast technical knowledge. If you have email, then you have the “technical” skills required to make money online — you don’t have to be a “geek” to earn money on the Internet. Plus, I’ve made it easier by writing completely free instructions guiding you every step of the way.
Quick-Start Guide to Making Money Online
Though there are thousands of websites dealing with earning money online, there are really only 2 ways to make money online that I endorse. If you want a small amount of money quickly, go with the first method. If you want a long-term full-time income, go with the second method.
Method 1: Project Payday
If your goal is to make a few hundred in a relatively short time-frame, then trying to make money fast is your best bet, which is why I’ve partnered with them to help you build an instant income.
In an economy like what we’re seeing now, businesses are simply dying to get new customers. They’re so desperate to advertise that they’re willing to give you an “incentive” just to check out their offers.
Most of these websites are slanted in the business’ favor. However, there are a few websites that are now offering you free incentives. You sign up, you DON’T pay anything, and you can make a few hundred dollars.
Project Payday is a great example of this — and it’s free. You won’t get rich, but you can make $2,500 or so per month if you’re willing to check out the products. Again, it’s free — don’t pay any website to do this, considering you can sign up to Project Payday for free.
Note: if you do what they say and you can’t make money, let them know. They’ll give you $100 free as a guarantee.
Method 2: Build a Website Business
That said, out of the thousands of “online opportunities” out there, the best way to make money online is with your own website. This is how I earn my income online.
This, however, isn’t good if you need quick money, or want to get rich quick. Building a website takes a ton of planning, a ton of work, and a ton of time. It can take up to a year before you see a full-time income. It took me about 6 months. But it’s also a passive income.
I can stop working right now and go to the pool, but my websites will all still be up and earning an income from advertisements — my business makes money without me now. That’s the biggest pull.
To learn more about building a website, read to the end of this page, or check out my 1o-step website plan.
How to Pick and Choose a Program
When it comes to picking out a way to make money, remember that you’re trying to make money, not spend money. In other words, only pick a project that guarantees that you’ll make money, and is free to sign up.
Otherwise, make very, very sure you trust a program before giving them a red cent. Thousands have learned this the hard way. Don’t be a statistic. Sign up to learn more about a project before you spend money — if you ever do.
Become acquainted with other similar programs before making a decision. Check out free programs like Project Payday before “paid” programs. Ten minutes of research can save you hours of headache, and let you choose the right program so you can actually make money rather than get burned.
Making Money Online With a Website
The vast majority of this website is about starting your own website. The reason is simple: it’s the best way to make money online. Anyone can do it, it’s a passive income, and you can get started instantly. It’s not a job; it’s a business.
There are a lot of myths about websites, blogging and making money online in general. Check out my article How Websites Make Money Online to learn more about how websites actually make money.
Who Can Make Money Online?
Absolutely anyone can make money online. It’s an old myth that you have to be a “computer geek” to own a website, or have to be a genius to make money with a free program like Project Payday. Those days are over.
If you can do email, then you can set up your own website. That said, making money online with a website isn’t for everyone. You have to be willing to look ahead, make plans, and work hard.
If you just want to slap a blog together, write a few things to put on it, and then forget it ever existed, you’re probably best sticking with Project Payday. Project Payday is free, so there isn’t any risk.
But starting a website costs anywhere from $100 to $300. This is still dirt cheap considering you’re starting a business, but if you aren’t willing to work at it, it’s just a waste.
Making money online isn’t about “getting rich quick”. If that’s what you’re after, it’s not possible. After all, if we could all get rich quick and easily, then we’d all be rich. That said, you can achieve almost any online income goals if you’re willing to plan well and work hard.
If anything, making money with a website is an anti-get-rich-quick scheme because you’ll have to work hard at it for a long period of time. It just takes a good plan and a strong work ethic.
What’s The Best Way to Make Money Online?
If the above sounds discouraging, don’t lose heart. Starting a website was the best financial decision of my life — so much that I’ve made this page a part of my financial planning website. I think everyone right now should at least try to start a website. Bill Gates once said:
“This is a fantastic time to be entering the business world, because business is going to change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 50.”
As I’ve described above, the best way to make money online is with a website. A website only has to be created once, and it exists indefinitely. That means rather than getting paid “by the hour” or “by the day” you get paid forever. Work once, earn forever.
That’s why, in a nutshell, making money online has grown to extraordinary popularity in the past few years. It let’s anyone build a passive income online.
What Should I Do Now?
To help you in the website department, I wrote an article that details every step you’ll need to take to build a money-making website. It will hold your hand throughout the entire process. It’s called the ten-step plan. So what should you do right now? One of two things:
•Sign up for Project Payday. Sign up for Project Payday to make money to get started. After you make money with the program, make sure to come back to put your money to good use.
•Start up your website. When you buy your hosting and domain (you buy them together at the same time), make sure to come back here and keep reading.
Before you keep reading, I want to say something personal: the biggest mistake I made when trying out making money online for myself was that I waited nearly an entire year before I finally acted.
I don’t even want to think about how much money I wasted by not being decisive. Wasting time is wasting money. Before you get up from the computer, promise yourself to make a single real step towards making money online.
I’ve received dozens of emails from people who said they’ve made this page their “home” page in order to constantly remind them to take action and actually start making money online, rather than put it off.
So take action… otherwise, you’ll hate yourself in 12 months. So either sign up for Project Payday or build a website like the ones I’ve built. Congratulations on your decision to make money online, and good luck
Welcome to one of the few “make money online” websites that actually encourages you to slow down and plan out your online journey.
If you’re looking for a get-rich-quick program, this page isn’t for you. But if you’re alright earning just a few dozen or hundreds of dollars from you computer per day, then this tutorial will guide you to earning an online income without having to leave your computer.
Most of the old-timers on the Internet know I’m talking about Project Payday. The project is basically when big companies will pay you money for “free” and Project Payday guides you through it.
You’ll see what I’m talking about. Just sign up and look around — it’s not rocket science. The reason I’m a fan of Project Payday is that…
•Project Payday is Free Money. Project Payday will teach you how to make money from big companies without spending hundreds — the ROI is incredibly higher than most of the competition.
•Project Payday is Garaunteed. If you don’t make $100 via Project Payday, just tell them and they’ll give you the money themselves. That’s the best part. You WILL make money.
I honestly wish that more of the “make money online” niche supported Project Payday, which is why I’ve partnered with them. You’ll see what I mean when you sign up.
The goal of this website is to explain exactly how to make money online, and how you can earn money by just signing up and reviewing products. I’ll be talking about the two ways I’ve earned money online — no theory, just actual instructions. Specifically, I’ll teach you how to:
•Make Money Fast With Project Payday.
•Build a Money-Making Website.
No, you don’t have to be a computer genius or have vast technical knowledge. If you have email, then you have the “technical” skills required to make money online — you don’t have to be a “geek” to earn money on the Internet. Plus, I’ve made it easier by writing completely free instructions guiding you every step of the way.
Quick-Start Guide to Making Money Online
Though there are thousands of websites dealing with earning money online, there are really only 2 ways to make money online that I endorse. If you want a small amount of money quickly, go with the first method. If you want a long-term full-time income, go with the second method.
Method 1: Project Payday
If your goal is to make a few hundred in a relatively short time-frame, then trying to make money fast is your best bet, which is why I’ve partnered with them to help you build an instant income.
In an economy like what we’re seeing now, businesses are simply dying to get new customers. They’re so desperate to advertise that they’re willing to give you an “incentive” just to check out their offers.
Most of these websites are slanted in the business’ favor. However, there are a few websites that are now offering you free incentives. You sign up, you DON’T pay anything, and you can make a few hundred dollars.
Project Payday is a great example of this — and it’s free. You won’t get rich, but you can make $2,500 or so per month if you’re willing to check out the products. Again, it’s free — don’t pay any website to do this, considering you can sign up to Project Payday for free.
Note: if you do what they say and you can’t make money, let them know. They’ll give you $100 free as a guarantee.
Method 2: Build a Website Business
That said, out of the thousands of “online opportunities” out there, the best way to make money online is with your own website. This is how I earn my income online.
This, however, isn’t good if you need quick money, or want to get rich quick. Building a website takes a ton of planning, a ton of work, and a ton of time. It can take up to a year before you see a full-time income. It took me about 6 months. But it’s also a passive income.
I can stop working right now and go to the pool, but my websites will all still be up and earning an income from advertisements — my business makes money without me now. That’s the biggest pull.
To learn more about building a website, read to the end of this page, or check out my 1o-step website plan.
How to Pick and Choose a Program
When it comes to picking out a way to make money, remember that you’re trying to make money, not spend money. In other words, only pick a project that guarantees that you’ll make money, and is free to sign up.
Otherwise, make very, very sure you trust a program before giving them a red cent. Thousands have learned this the hard way. Don’t be a statistic. Sign up to learn more about a project before you spend money — if you ever do.
Become acquainted with other similar programs before making a decision. Check out free programs like Project Payday before “paid” programs. Ten minutes of research can save you hours of headache, and let you choose the right program so you can actually make money rather than get burned.
Making Money Online With a Website
The vast majority of this website is about starting your own website. The reason is simple: it’s the best way to make money online. Anyone can do it, it’s a passive income, and you can get started instantly. It’s not a job; it’s a business.
There are a lot of myths about websites, blogging and making money online in general. Check out my article How Websites Make Money Online to learn more about how websites actually make money.
Who Can Make Money Online?
Absolutely anyone can make money online. It’s an old myth that you have to be a “computer geek” to own a website, or have to be a genius to make money with a free program like Project Payday. Those days are over.
If you can do email, then you can set up your own website. That said, making money online with a website isn’t for everyone. You have to be willing to look ahead, make plans, and work hard.
If you just want to slap a blog together, write a few things to put on it, and then forget it ever existed, you’re probably best sticking with Project Payday. Project Payday is free, so there isn’t any risk.
But starting a website costs anywhere from $100 to $300. This is still dirt cheap considering you’re starting a business, but if you aren’t willing to work at it, it’s just a waste.
Making money online isn’t about “getting rich quick”. If that’s what you’re after, it’s not possible. After all, if we could all get rich quick and easily, then we’d all be rich. That said, you can achieve almost any online income goals if you’re willing to plan well and work hard.
If anything, making money with a website is an anti-get-rich-quick scheme because you’ll have to work hard at it for a long period of time. It just takes a good plan and a strong work ethic.
What’s The Best Way to Make Money Online?
If the above sounds discouraging, don’t lose heart. Starting a website was the best financial decision of my life — so much that I’ve made this page a part of my financial planning website. I think everyone right now should at least try to start a website. Bill Gates once said:
“This is a fantastic time to be entering the business world, because business is going to change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 50.”
As I’ve described above, the best way to make money online is with a website. A website only has to be created once, and it exists indefinitely. That means rather than getting paid “by the hour” or “by the day” you get paid forever. Work once, earn forever.
That’s why, in a nutshell, making money online has grown to extraordinary popularity in the past few years. It let’s anyone build a passive income online.
What Should I Do Now?
To help you in the website department, I wrote an article that details every step you’ll need to take to build a money-making website. It will hold your hand throughout the entire process. It’s called the ten-step plan. So what should you do right now? One of two things:
•Sign up for Project Payday. Sign up for Project Payday to make money to get started. After you make money with the program, make sure to come back to put your money to good use.
•Start up your website. When you buy your hosting and domain (you buy them together at the same time), make sure to come back here and keep reading.
Before you keep reading, I want to say something personal: the biggest mistake I made when trying out making money online for myself was that I waited nearly an entire year before I finally acted.
I don’t even want to think about how much money I wasted by not being decisive. Wasting time is wasting money. Before you get up from the computer, promise yourself to make a single real step towards making money online.
I’ve received dozens of emails from people who said they’ve made this page their “home” page in order to constantly remind them to take action and actually start making money online, rather than put it off.
So take action… otherwise, you’ll hate yourself in 12 months. So either sign up for Project Payday or build a website like the ones I’ve built. Congratulations on your decision to make money online, and good luck
Make Easy Quick Money Online Only By Using It On A Daily Basis!
By ebiz
I know exactly why you are reading this article, because of the headline. I also know that you are probably wondering how in the world this is possible? I asked myself the same question, so I had to look into it for myself to discover out if it was possible to make free easy money from the internet without it`ll cost me one penny.
As you also very well know the internet is a place to search for information about anything and everything! this is of course the main reason the Internet was build up.
It is not to put under the pillow, that the whole World are going thrue some huge economic problems right know.
Propobly a extremely good reason that thousands of individuals are looking for ways to create alternative profit on the internet. From a truthful standpoint, it is very important that we all start thinking about this , since we could be heading for a rough ride in the near future.
I do believe we all get a ton of e-mails daily about different online opportunities, and we all know a good number of them is pure scams. However when you come across a true genuine online opportunity there is still one big problem for you, and that is to make some money from it. The most regular problem is that you must have a lot of visitors to your site, before you see some real cash. You may be one of those individuals that are having this problem with creating enogh traffic to your website, so I recommend you put my first and my last name in the Google searchbox and read a few of my articles in relation to targeted traffic and article marketing.I am sure some of those articles can solve your problem if you have one with getting targeted traffic to your website.
I did not write this article to tell you about targeted traffic and article marketing, but to inform you that there is a new way for you to actually make free-cash as you are searching Google and other places online.
Infact you can as well earn-cashfree only by going thrue your e-mail box everyday.
The company that have made this possible for you and me, have really put togheter a one of a kind opportunity, and do you know what, it will not cost you a penny to begin using it.
The main reason that I started making this article, was for the reason that I every single day hear about people that are very in a need to get themself some extra money, but they was not able to make it work for themself , because of the big problem I mention before in this piece of writing.
So, what is your next move on the Internet right now? Are you just about to login to your mailbox or perhaps paying Facebook or maybe MySpace a visit for all I know? Do yourself a good turn and get your Free of charge membership today before you go on with your adventure on the internet. Why not build up some easy free money while you are doing your best to build up your primary opportunity work.
You have everything to win and nothing to loose here my friend. And who would say no to a better and more secure, and even more private email system? And who would say no thanks to make free easy money from just using it? Not me! And maybe not you either?
Everybody wants to make free money from home right? Therefore I think I have opened a brand new way for you to do so.
The Author of this article is Per Ande Normann. He highly recommends that you visit this site right now: http://newfree-mail.com
I know exactly why you are reading this article, because of the headline. I also know that you are probably wondering how in the world this is possible? I asked myself the same question, so I had to look into it for myself to discover out if it was possible to make free easy money from the internet without it`ll cost me one penny.
As you also very well know the internet is a place to search for information about anything and everything! this is of course the main reason the Internet was build up.
It is not to put under the pillow, that the whole World are going thrue some huge economic problems right know.
Propobly a extremely good reason that thousands of individuals are looking for ways to create alternative profit on the internet. From a truthful standpoint, it is very important that we all start thinking about this , since we could be heading for a rough ride in the near future.
I do believe we all get a ton of e-mails daily about different online opportunities, and we all know a good number of them is pure scams. However when you come across a true genuine online opportunity there is still one big problem for you, and that is to make some money from it. The most regular problem is that you must have a lot of visitors to your site, before you see some real cash. You may be one of those individuals that are having this problem with creating enogh traffic to your website, so I recommend you put my first and my last name in the Google searchbox and read a few of my articles in relation to targeted traffic and article marketing.I am sure some of those articles can solve your problem if you have one with getting targeted traffic to your website.
I did not write this article to tell you about targeted traffic and article marketing, but to inform you that there is a new way for you to actually make free-cash as you are searching Google and other places online.
Infact you can as well earn-cashfree only by going thrue your e-mail box everyday.
The company that have made this possible for you and me, have really put togheter a one of a kind opportunity, and do you know what, it will not cost you a penny to begin using it.
The main reason that I started making this article, was for the reason that I every single day hear about people that are very in a need to get themself some extra money, but they was not able to make it work for themself , because of the big problem I mention before in this piece of writing.
So, what is your next move on the Internet right now? Are you just about to login to your mailbox or perhaps paying Facebook or maybe MySpace a visit for all I know? Do yourself a good turn and get your Free of charge membership today before you go on with your adventure on the internet. Why not build up some easy free money while you are doing your best to build up your primary opportunity work.
You have everything to win and nothing to loose here my friend. And who would say no to a better and more secure, and even more private email system? And who would say no thanks to make free easy money from just using it? Not me! And maybe not you either?
Everybody wants to make free money from home right? Therefore I think I have opened a brand new way for you to do so.
The Author of this article is Per Ande Normann. He highly recommends that you visit this site right now: http://newfree-mail.com
How to Make Money from YouTube
by Sunny
YouTube’s popularity has grown tremendously and so has its profits. Google saw great potential from that site and so it bought it out for over a billion dollars a while back. Now as a regular internet surfer you can have a piece of that pie indirectly. If you offer YouTube videos on your blog then you can actually make a good amount of money from it.
Bandwidth Concern
You may think that you have to download YouTube videos and upload them to your server(s) and use up your bandwidth, but you really don’t have to. Instead, you will be using YouTube’s bandwidth and that’s it.
First thing is first, go to AdBrite.com and sign up for a publisher’s account. You will be profiting from the AdBrite’s publisher program. They payout after every 30-60 days so, if you are serious about making money from videos then you should continue this for three months.
AdBrite doesn’t host the videos on their servers, instead they allow you to link from a destination on the web. Your video, in flv format, is then is played on AdBrite’s flv player with the advertisements. With AdBrite’s video player the ads show up for few seconds before the video begins to play and then disappears. If you have a site which has a huge amount of video audiences then you will see significant earnings, because they don’t pay you as much as AdSense. So, if you get little traffic then you won’t see much, because they don’t pay for views, AdBrite pays when the ads are clicked on. I wrote a previous post on AdBrite’s InVideo for those who are new to this blog.
Step 1
Go to the page of the YouTube video that you want to display and copy the first link that is displayed on the right side of the video.
Step 2
Go to KeepVid.com and paste that link, which you just copied, to the box and press “Download”.
Step 3
A download link should show up below after you hit the “Download” button. Copy the link of where it says “Download Link”; do not download the video, just copy the location of the link to your clipboard.
Step 4
Then go AdBrite.com and log-in to your account and click on “Publisher” (purple), then below that click on “InVideo” (blue), then click on “Add Video” (red).
Step 5
Now on the Add Video page enter the information that they ask. Make sure you add the keywords in the advertisement field that relates to the video you chose and press “Save and Get Code”.
Step 6
Now this is the hardest part….waiting. It takes about 10-20 minutes for the video to work after you embed the video on your page and publish it. It may work in the preview field after you have submitted the code, but it won’t work on other sites until 10 minutes or so have passed. Therefore, before you publish the page with the video, wait at least 10 minutes or so.
Now that you know this money making method with YouTube, try it out with other video sites such as DailyMotion.com or Break.com.
Please comment below, I need your feedback. Also, please take the time to digg this article, if you can, thank you.
YouTube’s popularity has grown tremendously and so has its profits. Google saw great potential from that site and so it bought it out for over a billion dollars a while back. Now as a regular internet surfer you can have a piece of that pie indirectly. If you offer YouTube videos on your blog then you can actually make a good amount of money from it.
Bandwidth Concern
You may think that you have to download YouTube videos and upload them to your server(s) and use up your bandwidth, but you really don’t have to. Instead, you will be using YouTube’s bandwidth and that’s it.
First thing is first, go to AdBrite.com and sign up for a publisher’s account. You will be profiting from the AdBrite’s publisher program. They payout after every 30-60 days so, if you are serious about making money from videos then you should continue this for three months.
AdBrite doesn’t host the videos on their servers, instead they allow you to link from a destination on the web. Your video, in flv format, is then is played on AdBrite’s flv player with the advertisements. With AdBrite’s video player the ads show up for few seconds before the video begins to play and then disappears. If you have a site which has a huge amount of video audiences then you will see significant earnings, because they don’t pay you as much as AdSense. So, if you get little traffic then you won’t see much, because they don’t pay for views, AdBrite pays when the ads are clicked on. I wrote a previous post on AdBrite’s InVideo for those who are new to this blog.
Step 1
Go to the page of the YouTube video that you want to display and copy the first link that is displayed on the right side of the video.
Step 2
Go to KeepVid.com and paste that link, which you just copied, to the box and press “Download”.
Step 3
A download link should show up below after you hit the “Download” button. Copy the link of where it says “Download Link”; do not download the video, just copy the location of the link to your clipboard.
Step 4
Then go AdBrite.com and log-in to your account and click on “Publisher” (purple), then below that click on “InVideo” (blue), then click on “Add Video” (red).
Step 5
Now on the Add Video page enter the information that they ask. Make sure you add the keywords in the advertisement field that relates to the video you chose and press “Save and Get Code”.
Step 6
Now this is the hardest part….waiting. It takes about 10-20 minutes for the video to work after you embed the video on your page and publish it. It may work in the preview field after you have submitted the code, but it won’t work on other sites until 10 minutes or so have passed. Therefore, before you publish the page with the video, wait at least 10 minutes or so.
Now that you know this money making method with YouTube, try it out with other video sites such as DailyMotion.com or Break.com.
Please comment below, I need your feedback. Also, please take the time to digg this article, if you can, thank you.
Senin, 12 Oktober 2009
Seven Ways To Attract More Money
by Dr. Joe Vitale
www.MrFire.com
Want to attract more money?
Wondering why you haven't attracted it when you've done everything you thought you needed to do?
What really works when it comes to attracting more money, anyway?
I've been studying the Law of Attraction for more than three decades. I've written several books about it, including The Attractor Factor and The Key. That's why I ended up in the movie The Secret, and then on Larry King and Donny Deutsch's televison shows, among others. I know how the Law of Attraction works, and I know why so many people don't clearly understand it.
When it comes to the Law of Attraction, most people want to learn how to use it to attract more money first. After that, they'll wonder how to attract romance, cars, homes, happiness, and everything else. But money is the starting place for most people.
So, how do you attract more money?
When it comes to attracting anything -- and money in particular -- there are seven ways to do it right. Here they are:
1.Give Money Away
It sounds counter-intuitive but the more you give, the more you will receive (unless you block the receiving, which ties into the next step). Give openly and freely to wherever you received spiritual nourishment. Give on a regular basis, too. The rule of thumb is to give 10% of whatever you receive, but it's also smart to give more when you feel inspired to do so.
Remember, give to the person, place, or group that has kept your spirit alive. Just ask "Where was I most inspired this past week?" and give to that source. And ask the question daily or weekly as the source will often change.
Here's an inside tip: When most people give money, they do it with a tight fist. They don't give much. Why not? Because they're afraid. They're holding on. Well, the energy of fear will attract more things to fear. Instead, give money with an open heart and an expectation of return. Give in love.
2.Get Clear
Most people push money away with their hidden limiting beliefs, such as "money is bad" or "rich people are evil." Those are beliefs, not facts. Get clear of them and money will come to you (as long as you also do the next step).
Getting clear is truly "The Missing Secret" to making the Law of Attraction work for you all the time. After all, it isn't your conscious intentions that are being manifested in your life, it is your un-conscious counter-intentions.
For example, when you set a goal on New Year's day to stop smoking or date more, what happened the next week? You gave up your conscious goal for your un-conscious belief that you couldn't do it. You weren't in alignment with your intention. You werent' "clear."
Most likely in your unconscious mind you have limiting beliefs about money, such as -
a.. "Money is evil."
b.. "Money will attract problems."
c.. "Money will make me a selfish person."
d.. "Wanting money is greedy."
e.. "Rich people are snobs."
If you have one or more of those limiting beliefs within you, do you really think you'll attract any money? In truth, you'll attract NOT having money.
Why? Because your unconscious counter-intention ("Money is bad") will veto your conscious intention ("I now attract more money into my life").
Is it any wonder some people say the movie The Secret or the Law of Attraction doesn't work? Obviously, once you clear those hidden blocks/beliefs to your success, your success has nothing in the way of happening. The roadblocks are gone.
I talk about ways to get clear in my new audioprogram, "The Missing Secret." One thing you can do right now is to simply question your beliefs. Become a belief detective and look for those limiting beliefs about money. When you release your inner blocks, you will attract more money.
3.Take Action
Too many people sit and wait for money to materialize in front of them. I believe in magic and miracles, but I also believe that your role in the process of attracting money is to actually do something to bring it your way. Act on your ideas. Now. "Money likes speed" is my favorite mantra.
If you don't act now, you'll see your idea manifested in a store some day and somebody else will be attracting money from it. What can you do right now, today, to move toward creating something that will attract more money? Whatever it is, do it.
When you doubt and second-guess yourself instead of taking action, you are demonstrating that you aren't yet clear (see second tip above) about money and your right to attract it. Act now and get rich.
4.Support a Cause
Most people push money away because they don't feel they deserve it. One way around this (while you still work on getting clear inside yourself) is to want money for a larger purpose. I created Operation YES to end homelessness. Raising hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) for that cause will remove any remaining prosperity limitations within me. While I won't receive a dime from Operation YES, my working on its behalf will attract money to me in other ways, such as the contacts and goodwill I'll create.
In short, want money for a larger reason than your own ego. This is a beautiful way to attract more money without wanting it only for yourself. Realize that when you are wealthy, you are better able to help family, friends, your community, and even the world. A good reason to attract more money is for all the good it can do for others, not just you. Ask yourself what cause would you support (or even create) once you attracted more money?
5.Get Support
One of the wisest things you can do to achieve any goal is create or join a master mind group devoted to it. I co-authored Meet and Grow Rich with Bill Hibbler for this reason: to teach you how to create a support group.
The idea is to be around people who can keep your energy and inspiration high. While you can make progress alone, it's so much easier when you have support.
This support can also come in the way of audiotapes, books, and other learning tools. I've been buying audios from Nightingale-Conant for more than thirty years for just that reason: it helps me stay focused on constantly growing and improving. Even when I was struggling, I went to the library and borrowed books and tapes to keep me informed and inspired. Today I can afford to buy my own materials, but it's only because I invested in my education every step along the way.
I created "The Missing Secret" audio set to help people understand the practical use of the Law of Attraction. Again, all of this is support in helping you attract more money.
6.Be Grateful
This is huge. Be thankful for the money you have - which is probably considered true wealth by people starving in third world countries - and you'll begin to attract more money. Gratitude sends off a signal of appreciation, which brings to you more to be thankful for. Begin with whatever is in this moment that you can be sincerely grateful for.
After I was homeless and while I was still experiencing poverty, I began this exercise by holding a pencil and being grateful for it. Once I truly experienced gratitude, it shifted my energy vibe so I could then experience more to be grateful for. Today I have much to be thankful for - from houses to cars to collectible guitars -- but it all began with a pencil.
Look around and ask yourself what you are grateful for right now. Then get into that feeling.
7.Do what you Love
There's no sense in working at something you hate. If you are currently at a job you don't like, find a way to enjoy it for the time you are there while working towards doing your passion. Following your passion is the greatest secret of all when it comes to attracting wealth.
Everyone from Donny Deutsch to Donald Trump to Bill Gates to little ole me agree that passion (combined with the other steps above) is your ticket to financial freedom. Even when I worked for oil companies back in Houston and didn't like my work, I found ways to do what I loved. I wrote my first book on my lunch hours. I spoke on weekends and sold my book in the back of the room. Over time, doing what I love became my life. And today it's my moment by moment wonder.
Ask yourself what you would do even if you were never paid. That's a clue to what you should be doing and of course finding a way to be paid for it. You can attract more money from love.
Finally, expect success.
The mindset of expectation - expecting that you are now attracting money and playfully looking around, asking "I wonder how big money will come to me today?" - will keep your brain turned on to seek and find opportunities. You of course then have to take fearless action when you see them.
Go for it!
Dr. Joe Vitale
www.MiraclesCoaching.com
Dr. Joe Vitale is the author of way too many books to list here. His latest title is "The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or anything else) From the Inside Out." Register for his monthly complimentary ezine at http://www.mrfire.com/
His Executive Mentoring Program is described at
http://www.joevitalecoach.com/campaigns/vitale-marketing/index.php
Copyright © 2008 by Joe Vitale. All rights reserved.
You may forward this in its entirety to anyone you wish.
www.MrFire.com
Want to attract more money?
Wondering why you haven't attracted it when you've done everything you thought you needed to do?
What really works when it comes to attracting more money, anyway?
I've been studying the Law of Attraction for more than three decades. I've written several books about it, including The Attractor Factor and The Key. That's why I ended up in the movie The Secret, and then on Larry King and Donny Deutsch's televison shows, among others. I know how the Law of Attraction works, and I know why so many people don't clearly understand it.
When it comes to the Law of Attraction, most people want to learn how to use it to attract more money first. After that, they'll wonder how to attract romance, cars, homes, happiness, and everything else. But money is the starting place for most people.
So, how do you attract more money?
When it comes to attracting anything -- and money in particular -- there are seven ways to do it right. Here they are:
1.Give Money Away
It sounds counter-intuitive but the more you give, the more you will receive (unless you block the receiving, which ties into the next step). Give openly and freely to wherever you received spiritual nourishment. Give on a regular basis, too. The rule of thumb is to give 10% of whatever you receive, but it's also smart to give more when you feel inspired to do so.
Remember, give to the person, place, or group that has kept your spirit alive. Just ask "Where was I most inspired this past week?" and give to that source. And ask the question daily or weekly as the source will often change.
Here's an inside tip: When most people give money, they do it with a tight fist. They don't give much. Why not? Because they're afraid. They're holding on. Well, the energy of fear will attract more things to fear. Instead, give money with an open heart and an expectation of return. Give in love.
2.Get Clear
Most people push money away with their hidden limiting beliefs, such as "money is bad" or "rich people are evil." Those are beliefs, not facts. Get clear of them and money will come to you (as long as you also do the next step).
Getting clear is truly "The Missing Secret" to making the Law of Attraction work for you all the time. After all, it isn't your conscious intentions that are being manifested in your life, it is your un-conscious counter-intentions.
For example, when you set a goal on New Year's day to stop smoking or date more, what happened the next week? You gave up your conscious goal for your un-conscious belief that you couldn't do it. You weren't in alignment with your intention. You werent' "clear."
Most likely in your unconscious mind you have limiting beliefs about money, such as -
a.. "Money is evil."
b.. "Money will attract problems."
c.. "Money will make me a selfish person."
d.. "Wanting money is greedy."
e.. "Rich people are snobs."
If you have one or more of those limiting beliefs within you, do you really think you'll attract any money? In truth, you'll attract NOT having money.
Why? Because your unconscious counter-intention ("Money is bad") will veto your conscious intention ("I now attract more money into my life").
Is it any wonder some people say the movie The Secret or the Law of Attraction doesn't work? Obviously, once you clear those hidden blocks/beliefs to your success, your success has nothing in the way of happening. The roadblocks are gone.
I talk about ways to get clear in my new audioprogram, "The Missing Secret." One thing you can do right now is to simply question your beliefs. Become a belief detective and look for those limiting beliefs about money. When you release your inner blocks, you will attract more money.
3.Take Action
Too many people sit and wait for money to materialize in front of them. I believe in magic and miracles, but I also believe that your role in the process of attracting money is to actually do something to bring it your way. Act on your ideas. Now. "Money likes speed" is my favorite mantra.
If you don't act now, you'll see your idea manifested in a store some day and somebody else will be attracting money from it. What can you do right now, today, to move toward creating something that will attract more money? Whatever it is, do it.
When you doubt and second-guess yourself instead of taking action, you are demonstrating that you aren't yet clear (see second tip above) about money and your right to attract it. Act now and get rich.
4.Support a Cause
Most people push money away because they don't feel they deserve it. One way around this (while you still work on getting clear inside yourself) is to want money for a larger purpose. I created Operation YES to end homelessness. Raising hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) for that cause will remove any remaining prosperity limitations within me. While I won't receive a dime from Operation YES, my working on its behalf will attract money to me in other ways, such as the contacts and goodwill I'll create.
In short, want money for a larger reason than your own ego. This is a beautiful way to attract more money without wanting it only for yourself. Realize that when you are wealthy, you are better able to help family, friends, your community, and even the world. A good reason to attract more money is for all the good it can do for others, not just you. Ask yourself what cause would you support (or even create) once you attracted more money?
5.Get Support
One of the wisest things you can do to achieve any goal is create or join a master mind group devoted to it. I co-authored Meet and Grow Rich with Bill Hibbler for this reason: to teach you how to create a support group.
The idea is to be around people who can keep your energy and inspiration high. While you can make progress alone, it's so much easier when you have support.
This support can also come in the way of audiotapes, books, and other learning tools. I've been buying audios from Nightingale-Conant for more than thirty years for just that reason: it helps me stay focused on constantly growing and improving. Even when I was struggling, I went to the library and borrowed books and tapes to keep me informed and inspired. Today I can afford to buy my own materials, but it's only because I invested in my education every step along the way.
I created "The Missing Secret" audio set to help people understand the practical use of the Law of Attraction. Again, all of this is support in helping you attract more money.
6.Be Grateful
This is huge. Be thankful for the money you have - which is probably considered true wealth by people starving in third world countries - and you'll begin to attract more money. Gratitude sends off a signal of appreciation, which brings to you more to be thankful for. Begin with whatever is in this moment that you can be sincerely grateful for.
After I was homeless and while I was still experiencing poverty, I began this exercise by holding a pencil and being grateful for it. Once I truly experienced gratitude, it shifted my energy vibe so I could then experience more to be grateful for. Today I have much to be thankful for - from houses to cars to collectible guitars -- but it all began with a pencil.
Look around and ask yourself what you are grateful for right now. Then get into that feeling.
7.Do what you Love
There's no sense in working at something you hate. If you are currently at a job you don't like, find a way to enjoy it for the time you are there while working towards doing your passion. Following your passion is the greatest secret of all when it comes to attracting wealth.
Everyone from Donny Deutsch to Donald Trump to Bill Gates to little ole me agree that passion (combined with the other steps above) is your ticket to financial freedom. Even when I worked for oil companies back in Houston and didn't like my work, I found ways to do what I loved. I wrote my first book on my lunch hours. I spoke on weekends and sold my book in the back of the room. Over time, doing what I love became my life. And today it's my moment by moment wonder.
Ask yourself what you would do even if you were never paid. That's a clue to what you should be doing and of course finding a way to be paid for it. You can attract more money from love.
Finally, expect success.
The mindset of expectation - expecting that you are now attracting money and playfully looking around, asking "I wonder how big money will come to me today?" - will keep your brain turned on to seek and find opportunities. You of course then have to take fearless action when you see them.
Go for it!
Dr. Joe Vitale
www.MiraclesCoaching.com
Dr. Joe Vitale is the author of way too many books to list here. His latest title is "The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or anything else) From the Inside Out." Register for his monthly complimentary ezine at http://www.mrfire.com/
His Executive Mentoring Program is described at
http://www.joevitalecoach.com/campaigns/vitale-marketing/index.php
Copyright © 2008 by Joe Vitale. All rights reserved.
You may forward this in its entirety to anyone you wish.
Make Money with eBook Marketing
Cash In on The Information Wave
This article is intended to teach you step by step how to get started and more importantly, make money with ebook marketing. We will teach you how to start making money with ebooks. Please leave us comments, questions, or success stories so that we can improve this guide.
An ebook, as defined by Wikipedia, is "an electronic (or digital) equivalent of a conventional printed book." As the internet becomes more and more popular, so to does the transmission of digital information such as ebooks. Naturally, most of us want to find a way to profit from this new trend. If you are one of these people who are looking to make money with ebooks, you have come to the right place.
Understanding and mastering these six areas of an eBay auction are absolutely essential to maximize the success and profitability of your auctions.
There are three basic ways to make money with ebooks. Writing your own ebooks, selling someone else's ebooks, or both.
Writing Your Own ebook - First, let's take a look at writing your own ebooks. It's not all that difficult and if you have ever written an essay for a school assignment you have all the prerequisites already. You don't have to be an expert on your ebook subject, although it helps, as most information can be found online and in your local library. You don't even have to be a good writer as most word processors have grammar and spell checking tools.
So, once you decide that you want to write your own ebook, you need to find a "niche" market or subject to write about. The more specific you make your ebook, the better it will sell.
Your next step is to complete an outline and table of contents. Having an outline will help you organize your thoughts and ensure that your new ebook flows well and keeps the reader focused. Once your initial outline is done (you can modify it as you go) you need to start your research. Get a pen and paper and spend several hours researching web sites related to each and every chapter of your ebook. Taking notes with a pen and paper will help ensure that you do not run into plagiarism issues. Be sure to spend a few hours in your local library as well. Research is one of the most important steps, even if you consider yourself an expert on your topic.
Once your research is completed, you are ready to begin writing. Use your outline to keep your efforts organized and on topic. Start with a rough draft and then get your friends and family to proof read it. Never do your one proof reading and editing!
Once your ebook is written, ad some nice graphics and a cover page. Compile the ebook into an ebook format (I suggest pdf) and you are finished. You should not have a unique and original ebook that you can sell.
Selling Someone Else's ebooks - Many of us don't have the "author" bug in us and the prospect of writing our own ebook reminds us of visiting the dentist. Do not fear, there are literally thousands of authors out there that need help selling there ebooks.
Selling ebooks is just another off-shoot of affiliate marketing. Sign up with an number of affiliate programs and sell the ebooks you want using your own website, email lists, or even word of mouth. Many people make their living selling ebooks using affiliate programs. You can read more about making money with affiliate marketing here.
Writing and Selling Your One ebook - This is actually a lot harder that people think. Most of us are good at writing or marketing, very few of us are good at both. However, if you feel you can handle both roles you can make even more money.
Use the section above to write your own ebook. Read out affiliate marketing section to better understand how affiliates work. Then, sign up as an advertiser with any number of affiliate programs.
As an advertiser, you tell the affiliate networks what price you want your new ebook sold for and what commission you want to offer your affiliates. In addition, you will want to make your own landing pages for your ebook so that your affiliates can send new customers to your ebook. You can read more about making a website here.
Obviously, this guide is designed to provide you with the basics to get started. Please let us know if you would like any additional information added or feel free to leave a comment below. We truly want to ensure that you make money with ebooks.
This article is intended to teach you step by step how to get started and more importantly, make money with ebook marketing. We will teach you how to start making money with ebooks. Please leave us comments, questions, or success stories so that we can improve this guide.
An ebook, as defined by Wikipedia, is "an electronic (or digital) equivalent of a conventional printed book." As the internet becomes more and more popular, so to does the transmission of digital information such as ebooks. Naturally, most of us want to find a way to profit from this new trend. If you are one of these people who are looking to make money with ebooks, you have come to the right place.
Understanding and mastering these six areas of an eBay auction are absolutely essential to maximize the success and profitability of your auctions.
There are three basic ways to make money with ebooks. Writing your own ebooks, selling someone else's ebooks, or both.
Writing Your Own ebook - First, let's take a look at writing your own ebooks. It's not all that difficult and if you have ever written an essay for a school assignment you have all the prerequisites already. You don't have to be an expert on your ebook subject, although it helps, as most information can be found online and in your local library. You don't even have to be a good writer as most word processors have grammar and spell checking tools.
So, once you decide that you want to write your own ebook, you need to find a "niche" market or subject to write about. The more specific you make your ebook, the better it will sell.
Your next step is to complete an outline and table of contents. Having an outline will help you organize your thoughts and ensure that your new ebook flows well and keeps the reader focused. Once your initial outline is done (you can modify it as you go) you need to start your research. Get a pen and paper and spend several hours researching web sites related to each and every chapter of your ebook. Taking notes with a pen and paper will help ensure that you do not run into plagiarism issues. Be sure to spend a few hours in your local library as well. Research is one of the most important steps, even if you consider yourself an expert on your topic.
Once your research is completed, you are ready to begin writing. Use your outline to keep your efforts organized and on topic. Start with a rough draft and then get your friends and family to proof read it. Never do your one proof reading and editing!
Once your ebook is written, ad some nice graphics and a cover page. Compile the ebook into an ebook format (I suggest pdf) and you are finished. You should not have a unique and original ebook that you can sell.
Selling Someone Else's ebooks - Many of us don't have the "author" bug in us and the prospect of writing our own ebook reminds us of visiting the dentist. Do not fear, there are literally thousands of authors out there that need help selling there ebooks.
Selling ebooks is just another off-shoot of affiliate marketing. Sign up with an number of affiliate programs and sell the ebooks you want using your own website, email lists, or even word of mouth. Many people make their living selling ebooks using affiliate programs. You can read more about making money with affiliate marketing here.
Writing and Selling Your One ebook - This is actually a lot harder that people think. Most of us are good at writing or marketing, very few of us are good at both. However, if you feel you can handle both roles you can make even more money.
Use the section above to write your own ebook. Read out affiliate marketing section to better understand how affiliates work. Then, sign up as an advertiser with any number of affiliate programs.
As an advertiser, you tell the affiliate networks what price you want your new ebook sold for and what commission you want to offer your affiliates. In addition, you will want to make your own landing pages for your ebook so that your affiliates can send new customers to your ebook. You can read more about making a website here.
Obviously, this guide is designed to provide you with the basics to get started. Please let us know if you would like any additional information added or feel free to leave a comment below. We truly want to ensure that you make money with ebooks.
Make Money With Online Auctions
There are dozens of ways to make money online from the comforts of your home. We provide you with the information needed to gain access to the top money-making offers on the web.
This article is intended to teach you step by step how to get started and more importantly, make money with online auctions. We will teach you how to start a home based online auction business. Please leave us comments, questions, or success stories so that we can improve this guide.
Earning money from online auctions is one of the best ways to get started with your own home based business. It's one of the easiest home businesses to start, maintain, and earn a profit with. In fact almost anyone can do it, even teenagers! The concept is simple; buy a product cheap and sell it for a higher price. Think of it like having a neighborhood yards sale, you can sell old items that are just laying around the house or forgotten about in your attic. You can find unused items from your neighbors and friends, or buy a product online for cheap.
Does that mean that anyone can make money online? Well, yes in fact over $44.3 billion in gross merchandise has been sold through eBay last year alone. If you consider all of the other online auction sites like Half.com, uBid.com, ShopGoodWill.com etc. you can imagine why making money with online auctions has quickly become one of the most profitable business models available.
So, ask yourself this question; "How would you like to earn over $27,000 this year working from home"? Sounds pretty good right? O. K. now consider that $27,500 per year is only 0.001% of the $27.5 Billion sold through PayPal using eBay last year. While it's important to set realistic goals, be sure not to "sell" yourself short. Imagine making 0.01% of that $27.5 Billion. That equals $275,000 per year and that is only 0.01% of the online auction sales.
So, how can you start making money with online auctions? Well, the first step is to realize that the only person that can make it happen is you. Once you are motivated to start making money with auctions, read as much information as you can. The more you know the more money you will make.
For the purpose of keeping the business concept simple, we will concentrate only on eBay (the largest online auction site). However, as you become more proficient in online auctions be sure to expand your arena and try some other online auctions as well.
What you will need to get started:
•A credit card, debit card, or other pre-paid card
•Computer and Internet Access
•Product - Buy low and sell high
•A few hours a day
•A quite work environment
If you are not familiar with eBay, now would be a good time to go look at their site. It's easy to understand even though at first glance in may appear a little cluttered. You can sell anything you can imagine here. For example, a couple from colorado recently sold real snow from the last snow storm. So, your imagination is your only limitation and remember that one person's junk is another person's treasure.
Obviously, getting the product at a low price and selling for a high price is the "meat and potatoes" of this business and is also the most complicated part. There are a number of wholesale warehouse that sell items for the specific purpose of allowing you to resell the products on online auctions. Often you can find items for sale with up to an 80% discount.
If all of this seems a little overwhelming, you might want to check out www.bidfuel.com. The site is designed to streamline the process of selling items on ebay and include an exclusive member warehouse and ebay auction wizard (it makes the auctions for you!) All you have to do is select which items to sell, and an auction template is made. The product is then directly shipped to your customer once they make a purchase. You don't have to manage any inventory either, it's all done for you. For a limited time bid fuel is offering free service and an ebay power user's bible. Be sure to check out bid fuel's online auction wizard here or you can read more about bid fuel and the other auction related sites here. Start your journey and make money with online auctions.
This article is intended to teach you step by step how to get started and more importantly, make money with online auctions. We will teach you how to start a home based online auction business. Please leave us comments, questions, or success stories so that we can improve this guide.
Earning money from online auctions is one of the best ways to get started with your own home based business. It's one of the easiest home businesses to start, maintain, and earn a profit with. In fact almost anyone can do it, even teenagers! The concept is simple; buy a product cheap and sell it for a higher price. Think of it like having a neighborhood yards sale, you can sell old items that are just laying around the house or forgotten about in your attic. You can find unused items from your neighbors and friends, or buy a product online for cheap.
Does that mean that anyone can make money online? Well, yes in fact over $44.3 billion in gross merchandise has been sold through eBay last year alone. If you consider all of the other online auction sites like Half.com, uBid.com, ShopGoodWill.com etc. you can imagine why making money with online auctions has quickly become one of the most profitable business models available.
So, ask yourself this question; "How would you like to earn over $27,000 this year working from home"? Sounds pretty good right? O. K. now consider that $27,500 per year is only 0.001% of the $27.5 Billion sold through PayPal using eBay last year. While it's important to set realistic goals, be sure not to "sell" yourself short. Imagine making 0.01% of that $27.5 Billion. That equals $275,000 per year and that is only 0.01% of the online auction sales.
So, how can you start making money with online auctions? Well, the first step is to realize that the only person that can make it happen is you. Once you are motivated to start making money with auctions, read as much information as you can. The more you know the more money you will make.
For the purpose of keeping the business concept simple, we will concentrate only on eBay (the largest online auction site). However, as you become more proficient in online auctions be sure to expand your arena and try some other online auctions as well.
What you will need to get started:
•A credit card, debit card, or other pre-paid card
•Computer and Internet Access
•Product - Buy low and sell high
•A few hours a day
•A quite work environment
If you are not familiar with eBay, now would be a good time to go look at their site. It's easy to understand even though at first glance in may appear a little cluttered. You can sell anything you can imagine here. For example, a couple from colorado recently sold real snow from the last snow storm. So, your imagination is your only limitation and remember that one person's junk is another person's treasure.
Obviously, getting the product at a low price and selling for a high price is the "meat and potatoes" of this business and is also the most complicated part. There are a number of wholesale warehouse that sell items for the specific purpose of allowing you to resell the products on online auctions. Often you can find items for sale with up to an 80% discount.
If all of this seems a little overwhelming, you might want to check out www.bidfuel.com. The site is designed to streamline the process of selling items on ebay and include an exclusive member warehouse and ebay auction wizard (it makes the auctions for you!) All you have to do is select which items to sell, and an auction template is made. The product is then directly shipped to your customer once they make a purchase. You don't have to manage any inventory either, it's all done for you. For a limited time bid fuel is offering free service and an ebay power user's bible. Be sure to check out bid fuel's online auction wizard here or you can read more about bid fuel and the other auction related sites here. Start your journey and make money with online auctions.
Jumat, 09 Oktober 2009
Twitter Monetization: How to Make Money With Twitter
By Saad Kamal
Everyone seems to like twitter these days which is a really cool way of staying in touch with your customers, friends & colleagues. Basically twitter has presented itself as a micro-blogging platform where a user can shout out anything they want to his ‘followers’ within the limit of 140 characters.
I have just started twittering since last month (*yes I’m pretty late starter!) because initially by looking at it for the very first time, I couldn’t find any ‘value’ that it has for my work & my social life. However after reading a convincing post by Aaron Wall, I thought of giving twitter a try. Since then onwards I have been using twitter all day long, just to keep track of some of the leading experts in the Internet & Search Marketing field as well as to have some ‘fun’ with my online buddies.
Anyway the whole point of doing this post is to highlight some of the key monetization elements that an individual can explore using twitter. I assume you have the basic knowledge of what twitter is and how it works, so I will directly deep into some ideas which can make you earn money from your twitter.
Direct Advertisement – If a lot of people are following you in ‘twitter’ or in other words if you have a ‘wide reach’ to a large number of twitter users, you can probably look into direct advertisements for monetization.
Recommendation – You can recommend a particular product or service on behalf of your advertisers & peruse your followers to take an ‘action’.
Promotion – You can help your advertiser to promote a new product or service to your twitter followers.
It works pretty much like niche marketing because, say if you are an Internet Marketer, It is very likely that most of your followers in Twitter are also from the same area which is why they have ‘followed’ you in the first place.
Affiliate Marketing – I was listening to yesterday where he talked about how affiliate marketing can actually be blended within Twitter.
Affiliate Links – If you are recommending a Product or a Service to your followers, you can always embed your affiliate link in your tweet. (e.g. Using a service like TinyUrl.com)
Sales Pages – Instead of taking your followers to another website using your affiliate link, you might just want to promote your own product & services and sell them directly via your sales / landing page.
This is an area where every one can really look into. For instance say when one of your followers is asking for suggestion to choose a web host, you can always suggest him the best one from your experience but at the same time use your affiliate link which can earn you some quick cash.
Paid Review– This is pretty much like the direct advertisement, however the only difference would be, instead of blindly suggesting a product or a service to someone, you can actually do some ‘paid reviews’.
Product – You can do a paid review about a particular product (e.g. Internet Marketing software)
Services – You can do a paid review about services that your advertiser offers. (E.g. SEO Services, Web Hosting Services etc.)
People – You can also do a paid review about people. For instance, maybe you can review someone’s web design skills, or you may promote someone’s ‘twitter’ account for instance.
Sponsored Contest– An advertiser may want to run a contest via a popular twitter user to get feedback about his product & services or just to create some brand awareness.
Feedback – Example – “What New features would you like to see in Product X”?
Brand Awareness– Example- “Describe product X in 140 Characters” or “Tell us why you like product X within 140 Characters”. The best answer can be given a cool prize sponsored by the advertiser.
Sponsored Advertisements– There isn’t must difference between this & the direct advertisement. However when I was creating the mind map, this ‘branch’ did somehow pop in, so have decided to include it. I guess the main difference would be that all the tweets which are actually sponsored advertisements can get a predefined prefix which will help your followers to identify them as ads.
Auto Ads – There can be a mechanism or a ‘new’ 3rd party service which can actually help you to distribute or Tweet the “Ads” when you are ‘not’ tweeting or say when you are idle. An ad interval can also be set so that your frequent sponsored ads don’t annoy your followers.
Sponsored Actions– Well this might sound like a weird idea but, I feel that some aggressive marketers might like it. Example – “I Love #Google. Re-tweet this message and WIN yourself a GPhone”. Since a hash-tag is used, all the massages can be tracked using that and a lucky winner can actually be picked from the pool.
Some of you may think that all these ‘monetizing’ options can actually turn twitter into an ‘evil’ place and slowly reduce its value. But let’s face it, if you aren’t fully utilizing all the areas of twitter today, somebody else will – tomorrow. But of course you should set a ‘limit’ on how many ‘such tweets’’ you are going to do on a day, so that your followers still consider you as a valuable contact rather than a commercial junkie.
So that’s all folks, if you like my article, you are welcome to add me in your Twitter – @saadkamal. Happy Twittering!
Click Here to joint Twitter : http://www.twitter.com/
Everyone seems to like twitter these days which is a really cool way of staying in touch with your customers, friends & colleagues. Basically twitter has presented itself as a micro-blogging platform where a user can shout out anything they want to his ‘followers’ within the limit of 140 characters.
I have just started twittering since last month (*yes I’m pretty late starter!) because initially by looking at it for the very first time, I couldn’t find any ‘value’ that it has for my work & my social life. However after reading a convincing post by Aaron Wall, I thought of giving twitter a try. Since then onwards I have been using twitter all day long, just to keep track of some of the leading experts in the Internet & Search Marketing field as well as to have some ‘fun’ with my online buddies.
Anyway the whole point of doing this post is to highlight some of the key monetization elements that an individual can explore using twitter. I assume you have the basic knowledge of what twitter is and how it works, so I will directly deep into some ideas which can make you earn money from your twitter.
Direct Advertisement – If a lot of people are following you in ‘twitter’ or in other words if you have a ‘wide reach’ to a large number of twitter users, you can probably look into direct advertisements for monetization.
Recommendation – You can recommend a particular product or service on behalf of your advertisers & peruse your followers to take an ‘action’.
Promotion – You can help your advertiser to promote a new product or service to your twitter followers.
It works pretty much like niche marketing because, say if you are an Internet Marketer, It is very likely that most of your followers in Twitter are also from the same area which is why they have ‘followed’ you in the first place.
Affiliate Marketing – I was listening to yesterday where he talked about how affiliate marketing can actually be blended within Twitter.
Affiliate Links – If you are recommending a Product or a Service to your followers, you can always embed your affiliate link in your tweet. (e.g. Using a service like TinyUrl.com)
Sales Pages – Instead of taking your followers to another website using your affiliate link, you might just want to promote your own product & services and sell them directly via your sales / landing page.
This is an area where every one can really look into. For instance say when one of your followers is asking for suggestion to choose a web host, you can always suggest him the best one from your experience but at the same time use your affiliate link which can earn you some quick cash.
Paid Review– This is pretty much like the direct advertisement, however the only difference would be, instead of blindly suggesting a product or a service to someone, you can actually do some ‘paid reviews’.
Product – You can do a paid review about a particular product (e.g. Internet Marketing software)
Services – You can do a paid review about services that your advertiser offers. (E.g. SEO Services, Web Hosting Services etc.)
People – You can also do a paid review about people. For instance, maybe you can review someone’s web design skills, or you may promote someone’s ‘twitter’ account for instance.
Sponsored Contest– An advertiser may want to run a contest via a popular twitter user to get feedback about his product & services or just to create some brand awareness.
Feedback – Example – “What New features would you like to see in Product X”?
Brand Awareness– Example- “Describe product X in 140 Characters” or “Tell us why you like product X within 140 Characters”. The best answer can be given a cool prize sponsored by the advertiser.
Sponsored Advertisements– There isn’t must difference between this & the direct advertisement. However when I was creating the mind map, this ‘branch’ did somehow pop in, so have decided to include it. I guess the main difference would be that all the tweets which are actually sponsored advertisements can get a predefined prefix which will help your followers to identify them as ads.
Auto Ads – There can be a mechanism or a ‘new’ 3rd party service which can actually help you to distribute or Tweet the “Ads” when you are ‘not’ tweeting or say when you are idle. An ad interval can also be set so that your frequent sponsored ads don’t annoy your followers.
Sponsored Actions– Well this might sound like a weird idea but, I feel that some aggressive marketers might like it. Example – “I Love #Google. Re-tweet this message and WIN yourself a GPhone”. Since a hash-tag is used, all the massages can be tracked using that and a lucky winner can actually be picked from the pool.
Some of you may think that all these ‘monetizing’ options can actually turn twitter into an ‘evil’ place and slowly reduce its value. But let’s face it, if you aren’t fully utilizing all the areas of twitter today, somebody else will – tomorrow. But of course you should set a ‘limit’ on how many ‘such tweets’’ you are going to do on a day, so that your followers still consider you as a valuable contact rather than a commercial junkie.
So that’s all folks, if you like my article, you are welcome to add me in your Twitter – @saadkamal. Happy Twittering!
Click Here to joint Twitter : http://www.twitter.com/
How to Make Money From Your Blog - Part 3
by Steve Pavlina
Traffic, traffic, traffic
Assuming you feel qualified to take on the challenge of generating income from blogging (and I haven’t scared you away yet), the three most important things you need to monetize your blog are traffic, traffic, and traffic.
Just to throw out some figures, last month (April 2006), this site received over 1.1 million visitors and over 2.4 million page views. That’s almost triple what it was just six months ago.
Why is traffic so important? Because for most methods of online income generation, your income is a function of traffic. If you double your traffic, you’ll probably double your income (assuming your visitor demographics remain fairly consistent). You can screw almost everything else up, but if you can generate serious traffic, it’s really hard to fail. With sufficient traffic the realistic worst case is that you’ll eventually be able to monetize your web site via trial and error (as long as you keep those visitors coming).
When I first launched this blog, I knew that traffic building was going to be my biggest challenge. All of my plans hinged on my ability to build traffic. If I couldn’t build traffic, it was going to be very difficult to succeed. So I didn’t even try to monetize my site for the first several months. I just focused on traffic building. Even after 19 months, traffic building is still the most important part of my monetization plan. For my current traffic levels, I know I’m undermonetizing my site, but that’s OK. Right now it’s more important to me to keep growing the site, and I’m optimizing the income generation as I go along.
Traffic is the primary fuel of online income generation. More visitors means more ad clicks, more product sales, more affiliate sales, more donations, more consulting leads, and more of whatever else that generates income for you. And it also means you’re helping more and more people.
With respect to traffic, you should know that in many respects, the rich do get richer. High traffic leads to even more traffic-building opportunities that just aren’t accessible for low-traffic sites. On average at least 20 bloggers add new links to my site every day, my articles can easily surge to the top of social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, and I’m getting more frequent requests for radio interviews. Earlier this year I was featured in USA Today and in Self Magazine, which collectively have millions of readers. Journalists are finding me by doing Google searches on topics I’ve written about. These opportunities were not available to me when I was first starting out. Popular sites have a serious advantage. The more traffic you have, the more you can attract.
If you’re intelligent and web savvy, you should also be able to eventually build a high-traffic web site. And you’ll be able to leverage that traffic to build even more traffic.
How to build traffic
Now if traffic is so crucial, how do you build it up to significant levels if you’re starting from rock bottom?
I’ve already written a lengthy article on this topic, so I’ll refer you there: How to Build a High Traffic Web Site (or Blog). If you don’t have time to read it now, feel free to bookmark it or print it out for later. That article covers my general philosophy of traffic-building, which centers on creating content that provides genuine value to your visitors. No games or gimmicks.
There is one other important traffic-building tip I’ll provide here though.
Blog Carnivals. Take full advantage of blog carnivals when you’re just starting out (click the previous link and read the FAQ there to learn what carnivals are if you don’t already know). Periodically submit your best blog posts to the appropriate carnivals for your niche. Carnivals are easy ways to get links and traffic, and best of all, they’re free. Submitting only takes minutes if you use a multi-carnvival submission form. Do NOT spam the carnivals with irrelevant material — only submit to the carnivals that are a match for your content.
In my early traffic-building days, I’d do carnivals submissions once a week, and it helped a great deal in going from nothing to about 50,000 visitors per month. You still have to produce great content, but carnivals give you a free shot at marketing your unknown blog. Free marketing is precisely the kind of opportunity you don’t want to miss. Carnivals are like an open-mic night at a comedy club — they give amateurs a chance to show off their stuff. I still submit to certain carnivals every once in a while, but now my traffic is so high that relatively speaking, they don’t make much difference anymore. Just to increase my traffic by 1% in a month, I need 11,000 new visitors, and even the best carnivals don’t push that much traffic. But you can pick up dozens or even hundreds of new subscribers from each round of carnival submissions, so it’s a great place to start. Plus it’s very easy.
If your traffic isn’t growing month after month, does it mean you’re doing something wrong? Most likely you aren’t doing enough things right. Again, making mistakes is not the issue. Missing opportunities is.
Will putting ads on your site hurt your traffic?
Here’s a common fear I hear from people who are considering monetizing their web sites:
Putting ads on my site will cripple my traffic. The ads will drive people away, and they’ll never come back.
Well, in my experience this is absolutely, positively, and otherwise completely and totally… FALSE. It’s just not true. Guess what happened to my traffic when I put ads on my site. Nothing. Guess what happened to my traffic when I put up more ads and donation links. Nothing. I could detect no net effect on my traffic whatsoever. Traffic continued increasing at the same rate it did before there were ads on my site. In fact, it might have even helped me a little, since some bloggers actually linked to my site just to point out that they didn’t like my ad layout. I’ll leave it up to you to form your own theories about this. It’s probably because there’s so much advertising online already that even though some people will complain when a free site puts up ads, if they value the content, they’ll still come back, regardless of what they say publicly.
Most mature people understand it’s reasonable for a blogger to earn income from his/her work. I think I’m lucky in that my audience tends to be very mature — immature people generally aren’t interested in personal development. To create an article like this takes serious effort, not to mention the hard-earned experience that’s required to write it. This article alone took me over 15 hours of writing and editing. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to earn an income from such work. If you get no value from it, you don’t pay anything. What could be more fair than that? The more income this blog generates, the more I can put into it. For example, I used some of the income to buy podcasting equipment and added a podcast to the site. I’ve recorded 13 episodes so far. The podcasts are all ad-free. I’m also planning to add some additional services to this site in the years ahead. More income = better service.
At the time of this writing, my site is very ad-heavy. Some people point this out to me as if I’m not aware of it: “You know, Steve. Your web site seems to contain an awful lot of ads.” Of course I’m aware of it. I’m the one who put the ads there. There’s a reason I have this configuration of ads. They’re effective! People keep clicking on them. If they weren’t effective, I’d remove them right away and try something else.
I do avoid putting up ads that I personally find annoying when I see them on other sites, including pop-ups and interstitials (stuff that flies across your screen). Even though they’d make me more money, in my opinion they degrade the visitor experience too much.
I also provide two ad-free outlets, so if you really don’t like ads, you can actually read my content without ads. First, I provide a full-text RSS feed, and at least for now it’s ad-free. I do, however, include a donation request in the bottom of my feeds.
If you want to see some actual traffic data, take a look at the 2005 traffic growth chart. I first put ads on the site in February 2005, and although the chart doesn’t cover pre-February traffic growth, the growth rate was very similar before then. For an independent source, you can also look at my traffic chart on Alexa. You can select different Range options to go further back in time.
Multiple streams of income
You don’t need to put all your eggs in one basket. Think multiple streams of income. On this site I actually have six different streams of income. Can you count them all? Here’s a list:
1.Google Adsense ads (pay per click and pay per impression advertising)
2.Donations (via PayPal or snail mail — yes, some people do mail a check)
3.Text Link Ads (sold for a fixed amount per month)
4.Chitika eMiniMalls ads (pay per click)
5.Affiliate programs like Amazon and (commission on products sold, mostly books)
6.Advertising sold to individual advertisers (three-month campaigns or longer)
Note: If you’re reading this article a while after its original publication date, then this list is likely to change. I frequently experiment with different streams.
Adsense is my biggest single source of income, but some of the others do pretty well too. Every stream generates more than $100/month.
My second biggest income stream is actually donations. My average donation is about $10, and I’ve received a number of $100 donations too. It only took me about an hour to set this up via PayPal. So even if your content is free like mine, give your visitors a means to voluntarily contribute if they wish. It’s win-win. I’m very grateful for the visitor support. It’s a nice form of feedback too, since I notice that certain articles produced a surge in donations — this tells me I’m hitting the mark and giving people genuine value.
These aren’t my only streams of income though. I’ve been earning income online since 1995. With my computer games business, I have direct sales, royalty income, some advertising income, affiliate income, and donations (from the free articles). And if you throw in my wife’s streams of income, it gets really ridiculous: advertising, direct book sales, book sales through distributors, web consulting, affiliate income, more Adsense income, and probably a few sources I forgot. Suffice it to say we receive a lot of paychecks. Some of them are small, but they add up. It’s also extremely low risk — if one source of income dries up, we just expand existing sources or create new ones. I encourage you to think of your blog as a potential outlet for multiple streams of income too.
Automated income
With the exception of #6, all of these income sources are fully automated. I don’t have to do anything to maintain them except deposit checks, and in most cases I don’t even have to do that because the money is automatically deposited to my bank account.
I love automated income. With this blog I currently have no sales, no employees, no products, no inventory, no credit card processing, no fraud, and no customers. And yet I’m still able to generate a reasonable (and growing) income.
Why get a regular job and trade your time for money when you can let technology do all that work for you? Imagine how it would feel to wake up each morning, go to your computer, and check how much money you made while you were sleeping. It’s a really nice situation to be in.
Blogging software and hardware
I use WordPress for this blog, and I highly recommend it. Wordpress has lots of features and a solid interface. And you can’t beat its price — free.
The rest of this site is custom-coded HTML, CSS, PHP, and MySQL. I’m a programmer, so I coded it all myself. I could have just as easily used an existing template, but I wanted a simple straightforward design for this site, and I wanted the look of the blog to match the rest of the site. Plus I use PHP and MySQL to do some creative things outside the blog, like the Million Dollar Experiment.
I don’t recommend using a hosted service like Blogger if you want to seriously monetize your blog. You don’t get enough control. If you don’t have your own URL, you’re tying yourself to a service you don’t own and building up someone else’s asset. You want to build page rank and links for your own URL, not someone else’s. Plus you want sufficient control over the layout and design of your site, so you can jump on any opportunities that require low-level changes. If you use a hosted blog, you’re at the mercy of the hosting service, and that puts the future of any income streams you create with them at risk. It’s a bit more work up front to self-host, but it’s less risky in the long run.
Web hosting is cheap, and there are plenty of good hosts to choose from. I recommend Pair.com for a starter hosting account. They aren’t the cheapest, but they’re very reliable and have decent support. I know many online businesses that host with them, and my wife refers most of her clients there.
As your traffic grows you may need to upgrade to a dedicated server or a virtual private server (VPS). This web site is hosted by ServInt. I’ve hosted this site with them since day one, and they’ve been a truly awesome host. What I like most about them is that they have a smooth upgrade path as my traffic keeps growing. I’ve gone through several upgrades with them already, and all have been seamless. The nice thing about having your own server is that you can put as many sites on it as the server can handle. I have several sites running on my server, and it doesn’t cost me any additional hosting fees to add another site.
Comments or no comments
When I began this blog, I started out with comments enabled. As traffic grew, so did the level of commenting. Some days there were more than 100 comments. I noticed I was spending more and more time managing comments, and I began to question whether it was worth the effort. It became clear that with continued traffic growth, I was going to have to change my approach or die in comment hell. The personal development topics I write about can easily generate lots of questions and discussion. Just imagine how many follow-up questions an article like this could generate. With tens of thousands of readers, it would be insane. Also, nuking comment spam was chewing up more and more of my time as well.
But after looking through my stats, I soon realized that only a tiny fraction of visitors ever look at comments at all, and an even smaller fraction ever post a comment (well below 1% of total visitors). That made my decision a lot easier, and in October 2005, I turned blog comments off. In retrospect that was one of my best decisions. I wish I had done it sooner.
If you’d like to read the full details of how I came to this decision, I’ve written about it previously: Blog Comments and More on Blog Comments.
Do you need comments to build traffic? Obviously not. Just like when I put up ads, I saw no decline in traffic when I turned off comments. In fact, I think it actually helped me. Although I turned off comments, I kept trackbacks enabled, so I started getting more trackbacks. If people wanted to publicly comment on something I’d written, they had to do so on their own blogs and post a link. So turning off comments didn’t kill the discussion — it just took it off site. The volume of trackbacks is far more reasonable, and I can easily keep up with it. I even pop onto other people’s sites and post comments now and then, but I don’t feel obligated to participate because the discussion isn’t on my own site.
I realize people have very strong feelings about blog comments and community building. Many people hold the opinion that a blog without comments just isn’t a blog. Personally I think that’s utter nonsense — the data just doesn’t support it. The vast majority of blog readers neither read nor post comments. Only a very tiny and very vocal group even care about comments. Some bloggers say that having comments helps build traffic, but I saw no evidence of that. In fact, I think it’s just the opposite. Managing comments detracts from writing new posts, and it’s far better to get a trackback and a link from someone else’s blog vs. a comment on your own blog. As long-term readers of my blog know, when faced with ambiguity, my preference is to try both alternatives and compare real results with real results. After doing that my conclusion is this: No comment.
Now if you want to support comments for non-traffic-building reasons like socializing or making new contacts, I say go for it. Just don’t assume that comments are necessary or even helpful in building traffic unless you directly test this assumption yourself.
Build a complete web site, not just a blog
Don’t limit your web site to just a blog. Feel free to build it out. Although most of my traffic goes straight to this blog, there’s a whole site built around it. For example, the home page of this site presents an overview of all the sections of the site, including the blog, article section, audio content, etc. A lot of people still don’t know what a blog is, so if your whole site is your blog, those people may be a little confused.
Testing and optimization
In the beginning you won’t know which potential streams of income will work best for you. So try everything that’s reasonable for you. If you learn about a new potential income stream, test it for a month or two, and measure the results for yourself. Feel free to cut streams that just aren’t working for you, and put more effort into optimizing those streams that show real promise.
A few months ago, I signed up for an account with Text Link Ads. It took about 20 minutes. They sell small text ads on my site, split the revenue with me 50-50, and deposit my earnings directly into my PayPal account. This month I’ll make around $600 from them, possibly more if they sell some new ads during the month. And it’s totally passive. If I never tried this, I’d miss out on this easy extra income.
For many months I’ve been tweaking the Adsense ads on this site. I tried different colors, sizes, layouts, etc. I continue to experiment now and then, but I have a hard time beating the current layout. It works very well for me. Adsense doesn’t allow publishers to reveal specific CPM and CTR data, but mine are definitely above par. They started out in the gutter though. You can easily double or triple your Adsense revenue by converting a poor layout into a better one. This is the main reason why during my first year of income, my traffic grew at 20% per month, but my income grew at 50% per month. Frequent testing and optimization had a major positive impact. Many of my tests failed, and some even made my income go down, but I’m glad I did all that testing. If I didn’t then my Adsense income would only be a fraction of what it is now.
It’s cheap to experiment. Every new advertising or affiliate service I’ve tried so far has been free to sign up. Often I can add a new income stream in less than an hour and then wait a month to see how it does. If it flops then at least I learned something. If it does well, wonderful. As a blogger who wants to generate income, you should always be experimenting with new income streams. If you haven’t tried anything new in six months, you’re almost certainly missing some golden opportunities. Every blog is different, so you need to test things for yourself to see what works for you. Failure is impossible here — you either succeed, or you learn something.
Pick your niche, but make sure it isn’t too small
Pick a niche for your blog where you have some significant expertise, but make sure it’s a big enough niche that you can build significant traffic. My wife runs a popular vegan web site. She does pretty well within her niche, but it’s just not a very big niche. On the other hand, my topic of personal development has much broader appeal. Potentially anyone can be interested in improving themselves, and I have the flexibility to write about topics like productivity, self-discipline, relationships, spirituality, health, and more. It’s all relevant to personal development.
Pick a niche that you’re passionate about. I’ve written 400+ articles so far, and I still feel like I’m just getting started. I’m not feeling burnt out at all. I chose to build a personal development site because I’m very knowledgeable, experienced, and passionate about this subject. I couldn’t imagine a better topic for me to write about.
Don’t pick a niche just because you think it will make you money. I see many bloggers try to do that, and it’s almost invariably a recipe for failure. Think about what you love most, and then find a way to make your topic appealing to a massive global audience. Consider what will provide genuine value to your visitors. It’s all about what you can give.
A broad enough topic creates more potential advertising partners. If I keep writing on the same subtopic over and over, I may exhaust the supply of advertisers and hit an income ceiling. But by writing on many different topics under the same umbrella, I widen the field of potential advertisers. And I expand the appeal of my site at the same time.
Make it clear to your visitors what your blog/site is about. Often I visit a blog with a clever title and tagline that reveals nothing about the site’s contents. In that case I generally assume it’s just a personal journal and move on. I love to be clever too, but I’ve found that clarity yields better results than cleverness.
Posting frequency and length
Bloggers have different opinions about the right posting length and frequency. Some bloggers say it’s best to write short (250-750 word) entries and post 20x per week or more. I’ve seen that strategy work for some, but I decided to do pretty much the opposite. I usually aim for about 3-5 posts per week, but my posts are much longer (typically 1000-2000 words, sometimes longer than 5000 words, including the monster you’re reading right now). That’s because rather than throwing out lots of short tips, I prefer to write more exhaustive, in-depth articles. I find that deeper articles are better at generating links and referrals and building traffic. It’s true that fewer people will take the time to read them, but those that do will enjoy some serious take-away value. I don’t believe in creating disposable content just to increase page views and ad impressions. If I’m not truly helping my visitors, I’m wasting their time.
Expenses
Blogging is dirt cheap.
I don’t spend money on advertising or promotion, so my marketing expenses are nil. Essentially my content is my marketing. If you like this article, you’ll probably find many more gems in the archives.
My only real expenses for this site are the hosting (I currently pay $149/month for the web server and bandwidth) and the domain name renewal ($9/year). Nearly all of the income this site generates is profit. This trickles down to my personal income, so of course it’s subject to income tax. But the actual business expenses are minimal.
The reason I pay so much for hosting is simply due to my traffic. If my traffic were much lower, I could run this site on a cheap shared hosting account. A database-driven blog can be a real resource hog at high traffic levels. The same goes for online forums. As traffic continues to increase, my hosting bill will go up too, but it will still be a tiny fraction of total income.
Perks
Depending on the nature of your blog, you may be able to enjoy some nice perks as your traffic grows. Almost every week I get free personal development books in the mail (for potential review on this site). Sometimes the author will send it directly; other times the publisher will ship me a batch of books. I also receive CDs, DVDs, and other personal development products. It’s hard to keep up sometimes (I have a queue of about two dozen books right now), but I am a voracious consumer of such products, so I do plow through them as fast as I can. When something strikes me as worthy of mention, I do indeed write up a review to share it with my visitors. I have very high standards though, so I review less than 10% of what I receive. I’ve read over 700 books in this field and listened to dozens of audio programs, so I’m pretty good at filtering out the fluff. As I’m sure you can imagine, there’s a great deal of self-help fluff out there.
My criteria for reviewing a product on this site is that it has to be original, compelling, and profound. If it doesn’t meet these criteria, I don’t review it, even if there’s a generous affiliate program. I’m not going to risk abusing my relationship with my visitors just to make a quick buck. Making money is not my main motivation for running this site. My main motivation is to grow and to help others grow, so that always comes first.
Your blog can also gain you access to certain events. A high-traffic blog becomes a potential media outlet, so you can actually think of yourself as a member of the press, which indeed you are. In a few days, my wife and I will be attending a three-day seminar via a free press pass. The regular price for these tickets is $500 per person. I’ll be posting a full review of the seminar next week. I’ve been to this particular seminar in 2004, so I already have high expectations for it. Dr. Wayne Dyer will be the keynote speaker.
I’m also using the popularity of this blog to set up interviews with people I’ve always wanted to learn more about. This is beautifully win-win because it creates value for me, my audience, and the person being interviewed. Recently I posted an exclusive interview with multi-millionaire Marc Allen as well as a review of his latest book, and I’m lining up other interviews as well. It isn’t hard to convince someone to do an interview in exchange for so much free exposure.
Motivation
I don’t think you’ll get very far if money is your #1 motivation for blogging. You have to be driven by something much deeper. Money is just frosting. It’s the cake underneath that matters. My cake is that I absolutely love personal development – not the phony “fast and easy” junk you see on infomercials, but real growth that makes us better human beings. That’s my passion. Pouring money on top of it just adds more fuel to the fire, but the fire is still there with or without the money.
What’s your passion? What would you blog about if you were already set for life?
Blogging lifestyle
Perhaps the best part of generating income from blogging is the freedom it brings. I work from home and set my own hours. I write whenever I’m inspired to write (which for me is quite often). Plus I get to spend my time doing what I love most — working on personal growth and helping others do the same. There’s nothing I’d rather do than this.
Perhaps it’s true that 99 out of 100 people can’t make a decent living from blogging yet. But maybe you’re among the 1 in 100 who can.
On the other hand, I can offer you a good alternative to recommend if you don’t have the technical skills to build a high-traffic, income-generating blog. Check out Build Your Own Successful Online Business for details.
Now start your first blog.
Traffic, traffic, traffic
Assuming you feel qualified to take on the challenge of generating income from blogging (and I haven’t scared you away yet), the three most important things you need to monetize your blog are traffic, traffic, and traffic.
Just to throw out some figures, last month (April 2006), this site received over 1.1 million visitors and over 2.4 million page views. That’s almost triple what it was just six months ago.
Why is traffic so important? Because for most methods of online income generation, your income is a function of traffic. If you double your traffic, you’ll probably double your income (assuming your visitor demographics remain fairly consistent). You can screw almost everything else up, but if you can generate serious traffic, it’s really hard to fail. With sufficient traffic the realistic worst case is that you’ll eventually be able to monetize your web site via trial and error (as long as you keep those visitors coming).
When I first launched this blog, I knew that traffic building was going to be my biggest challenge. All of my plans hinged on my ability to build traffic. If I couldn’t build traffic, it was going to be very difficult to succeed. So I didn’t even try to monetize my site for the first several months. I just focused on traffic building. Even after 19 months, traffic building is still the most important part of my monetization plan. For my current traffic levels, I know I’m undermonetizing my site, but that’s OK. Right now it’s more important to me to keep growing the site, and I’m optimizing the income generation as I go along.
Traffic is the primary fuel of online income generation. More visitors means more ad clicks, more product sales, more affiliate sales, more donations, more consulting leads, and more of whatever else that generates income for you. And it also means you’re helping more and more people.
With respect to traffic, you should know that in many respects, the rich do get richer. High traffic leads to even more traffic-building opportunities that just aren’t accessible for low-traffic sites. On average at least 20 bloggers add new links to my site every day, my articles can easily surge to the top of social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, and I’m getting more frequent requests for radio interviews. Earlier this year I was featured in USA Today and in Self Magazine, which collectively have millions of readers. Journalists are finding me by doing Google searches on topics I’ve written about. These opportunities were not available to me when I was first starting out. Popular sites have a serious advantage. The more traffic you have, the more you can attract.
If you’re intelligent and web savvy, you should also be able to eventually build a high-traffic web site. And you’ll be able to leverage that traffic to build even more traffic.
How to build traffic
Now if traffic is so crucial, how do you build it up to significant levels if you’re starting from rock bottom?
I’ve already written a lengthy article on this topic, so I’ll refer you there: How to Build a High Traffic Web Site (or Blog). If you don’t have time to read it now, feel free to bookmark it or print it out for later. That article covers my general philosophy of traffic-building, which centers on creating content that provides genuine value to your visitors. No games or gimmicks.
There is one other important traffic-building tip I’ll provide here though.
Blog Carnivals. Take full advantage of blog carnivals when you’re just starting out (click the previous link and read the FAQ there to learn what carnivals are if you don’t already know). Periodically submit your best blog posts to the appropriate carnivals for your niche. Carnivals are easy ways to get links and traffic, and best of all, they’re free. Submitting only takes minutes if you use a multi-carnvival submission form. Do NOT spam the carnivals with irrelevant material — only submit to the carnivals that are a match for your content.
In my early traffic-building days, I’d do carnivals submissions once a week, and it helped a great deal in going from nothing to about 50,000 visitors per month. You still have to produce great content, but carnivals give you a free shot at marketing your unknown blog. Free marketing is precisely the kind of opportunity you don’t want to miss. Carnivals are like an open-mic night at a comedy club — they give amateurs a chance to show off their stuff. I still submit to certain carnivals every once in a while, but now my traffic is so high that relatively speaking, they don’t make much difference anymore. Just to increase my traffic by 1% in a month, I need 11,000 new visitors, and even the best carnivals don’t push that much traffic. But you can pick up dozens or even hundreds of new subscribers from each round of carnival submissions, so it’s a great place to start. Plus it’s very easy.
If your traffic isn’t growing month after month, does it mean you’re doing something wrong? Most likely you aren’t doing enough things right. Again, making mistakes is not the issue. Missing opportunities is.
Will putting ads on your site hurt your traffic?
Here’s a common fear I hear from people who are considering monetizing their web sites:
Putting ads on my site will cripple my traffic. The ads will drive people away, and they’ll never come back.
Well, in my experience this is absolutely, positively, and otherwise completely and totally… FALSE. It’s just not true. Guess what happened to my traffic when I put ads on my site. Nothing. Guess what happened to my traffic when I put up more ads and donation links. Nothing. I could detect no net effect on my traffic whatsoever. Traffic continued increasing at the same rate it did before there were ads on my site. In fact, it might have even helped me a little, since some bloggers actually linked to my site just to point out that they didn’t like my ad layout. I’ll leave it up to you to form your own theories about this. It’s probably because there’s so much advertising online already that even though some people will complain when a free site puts up ads, if they value the content, they’ll still come back, regardless of what they say publicly.
Most mature people understand it’s reasonable for a blogger to earn income from his/her work. I think I’m lucky in that my audience tends to be very mature — immature people generally aren’t interested in personal development. To create an article like this takes serious effort, not to mention the hard-earned experience that’s required to write it. This article alone took me over 15 hours of writing and editing. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to earn an income from such work. If you get no value from it, you don’t pay anything. What could be more fair than that? The more income this blog generates, the more I can put into it. For example, I used some of the income to buy podcasting equipment and added a podcast to the site. I’ve recorded 13 episodes so far. The podcasts are all ad-free. I’m also planning to add some additional services to this site in the years ahead. More income = better service.
At the time of this writing, my site is very ad-heavy. Some people point this out to me as if I’m not aware of it: “You know, Steve. Your web site seems to contain an awful lot of ads.” Of course I’m aware of it. I’m the one who put the ads there. There’s a reason I have this configuration of ads. They’re effective! People keep clicking on them. If they weren’t effective, I’d remove them right away and try something else.
I do avoid putting up ads that I personally find annoying when I see them on other sites, including pop-ups and interstitials (stuff that flies across your screen). Even though they’d make me more money, in my opinion they degrade the visitor experience too much.
I also provide two ad-free outlets, so if you really don’t like ads, you can actually read my content without ads. First, I provide a full-text RSS feed, and at least for now it’s ad-free. I do, however, include a donation request in the bottom of my feeds.
If you want to see some actual traffic data, take a look at the 2005 traffic growth chart. I first put ads on the site in February 2005, and although the chart doesn’t cover pre-February traffic growth, the growth rate was very similar before then. For an independent source, you can also look at my traffic chart on Alexa. You can select different Range options to go further back in time.
Multiple streams of income
You don’t need to put all your eggs in one basket. Think multiple streams of income. On this site I actually have six different streams of income. Can you count them all? Here’s a list:
1.Google Adsense ads (pay per click and pay per impression advertising)
2.Donations (via PayPal or snail mail — yes, some people do mail a check)
3.Text Link Ads (sold for a fixed amount per month)
4.Chitika eMiniMalls ads (pay per click)
5.Affiliate programs like Amazon and (commission on products sold, mostly books)
6.Advertising sold to individual advertisers (three-month campaigns or longer)
Note: If you’re reading this article a while after its original publication date, then this list is likely to change. I frequently experiment with different streams.
Adsense is my biggest single source of income, but some of the others do pretty well too. Every stream generates more than $100/month.
My second biggest income stream is actually donations. My average donation is about $10, and I’ve received a number of $100 donations too. It only took me about an hour to set this up via PayPal. So even if your content is free like mine, give your visitors a means to voluntarily contribute if they wish. It’s win-win. I’m very grateful for the visitor support. It’s a nice form of feedback too, since I notice that certain articles produced a surge in donations — this tells me I’m hitting the mark and giving people genuine value.
These aren’t my only streams of income though. I’ve been earning income online since 1995. With my computer games business, I have direct sales, royalty income, some advertising income, affiliate income, and donations (from the free articles). And if you throw in my wife’s streams of income, it gets really ridiculous: advertising, direct book sales, book sales through distributors, web consulting, affiliate income, more Adsense income, and probably a few sources I forgot. Suffice it to say we receive a lot of paychecks. Some of them are small, but they add up. It’s also extremely low risk — if one source of income dries up, we just expand existing sources or create new ones. I encourage you to think of your blog as a potential outlet for multiple streams of income too.
Automated income
With the exception of #6, all of these income sources are fully automated. I don’t have to do anything to maintain them except deposit checks, and in most cases I don’t even have to do that because the money is automatically deposited to my bank account.
I love automated income. With this blog I currently have no sales, no employees, no products, no inventory, no credit card processing, no fraud, and no customers. And yet I’m still able to generate a reasonable (and growing) income.
Why get a regular job and trade your time for money when you can let technology do all that work for you? Imagine how it would feel to wake up each morning, go to your computer, and check how much money you made while you were sleeping. It’s a really nice situation to be in.
Blogging software and hardware
I use WordPress for this blog, and I highly recommend it. Wordpress has lots of features and a solid interface. And you can’t beat its price — free.
The rest of this site is custom-coded HTML, CSS, PHP, and MySQL. I’m a programmer, so I coded it all myself. I could have just as easily used an existing template, but I wanted a simple straightforward design for this site, and I wanted the look of the blog to match the rest of the site. Plus I use PHP and MySQL to do some creative things outside the blog, like the Million Dollar Experiment.
I don’t recommend using a hosted service like Blogger if you want to seriously monetize your blog. You don’t get enough control. If you don’t have your own URL, you’re tying yourself to a service you don’t own and building up someone else’s asset. You want to build page rank and links for your own URL, not someone else’s. Plus you want sufficient control over the layout and design of your site, so you can jump on any opportunities that require low-level changes. If you use a hosted blog, you’re at the mercy of the hosting service, and that puts the future of any income streams you create with them at risk. It’s a bit more work up front to self-host, but it’s less risky in the long run.
Web hosting is cheap, and there are plenty of good hosts to choose from. I recommend Pair.com for a starter hosting account. They aren’t the cheapest, but they’re very reliable and have decent support. I know many online businesses that host with them, and my wife refers most of her clients there.
As your traffic grows you may need to upgrade to a dedicated server or a virtual private server (VPS). This web site is hosted by ServInt. I’ve hosted this site with them since day one, and they’ve been a truly awesome host. What I like most about them is that they have a smooth upgrade path as my traffic keeps growing. I’ve gone through several upgrades with them already, and all have been seamless. The nice thing about having your own server is that you can put as many sites on it as the server can handle. I have several sites running on my server, and it doesn’t cost me any additional hosting fees to add another site.
Comments or no comments
When I began this blog, I started out with comments enabled. As traffic grew, so did the level of commenting. Some days there were more than 100 comments. I noticed I was spending more and more time managing comments, and I began to question whether it was worth the effort. It became clear that with continued traffic growth, I was going to have to change my approach or die in comment hell. The personal development topics I write about can easily generate lots of questions and discussion. Just imagine how many follow-up questions an article like this could generate. With tens of thousands of readers, it would be insane. Also, nuking comment spam was chewing up more and more of my time as well.
But after looking through my stats, I soon realized that only a tiny fraction of visitors ever look at comments at all, and an even smaller fraction ever post a comment (well below 1% of total visitors). That made my decision a lot easier, and in October 2005, I turned blog comments off. In retrospect that was one of my best decisions. I wish I had done it sooner.
If you’d like to read the full details of how I came to this decision, I’ve written about it previously: Blog Comments and More on Blog Comments.
Do you need comments to build traffic? Obviously not. Just like when I put up ads, I saw no decline in traffic when I turned off comments. In fact, I think it actually helped me. Although I turned off comments, I kept trackbacks enabled, so I started getting more trackbacks. If people wanted to publicly comment on something I’d written, they had to do so on their own blogs and post a link. So turning off comments didn’t kill the discussion — it just took it off site. The volume of trackbacks is far more reasonable, and I can easily keep up with it. I even pop onto other people’s sites and post comments now and then, but I don’t feel obligated to participate because the discussion isn’t on my own site.
I realize people have very strong feelings about blog comments and community building. Many people hold the opinion that a blog without comments just isn’t a blog. Personally I think that’s utter nonsense — the data just doesn’t support it. The vast majority of blog readers neither read nor post comments. Only a very tiny and very vocal group even care about comments. Some bloggers say that having comments helps build traffic, but I saw no evidence of that. In fact, I think it’s just the opposite. Managing comments detracts from writing new posts, and it’s far better to get a trackback and a link from someone else’s blog vs. a comment on your own blog. As long-term readers of my blog know, when faced with ambiguity, my preference is to try both alternatives and compare real results with real results. After doing that my conclusion is this: No comment.
Now if you want to support comments for non-traffic-building reasons like socializing or making new contacts, I say go for it. Just don’t assume that comments are necessary or even helpful in building traffic unless you directly test this assumption yourself.
Build a complete web site, not just a blog
Don’t limit your web site to just a blog. Feel free to build it out. Although most of my traffic goes straight to this blog, there’s a whole site built around it. For example, the home page of this site presents an overview of all the sections of the site, including the blog, article section, audio content, etc. A lot of people still don’t know what a blog is, so if your whole site is your blog, those people may be a little confused.
Testing and optimization
In the beginning you won’t know which potential streams of income will work best for you. So try everything that’s reasonable for you. If you learn about a new potential income stream, test it for a month or two, and measure the results for yourself. Feel free to cut streams that just aren’t working for you, and put more effort into optimizing those streams that show real promise.
A few months ago, I signed up for an account with Text Link Ads. It took about 20 minutes. They sell small text ads on my site, split the revenue with me 50-50, and deposit my earnings directly into my PayPal account. This month I’ll make around $600 from them, possibly more if they sell some new ads during the month. And it’s totally passive. If I never tried this, I’d miss out on this easy extra income.
For many months I’ve been tweaking the Adsense ads on this site. I tried different colors, sizes, layouts, etc. I continue to experiment now and then, but I have a hard time beating the current layout. It works very well for me. Adsense doesn’t allow publishers to reveal specific CPM and CTR data, but mine are definitely above par. They started out in the gutter though. You can easily double or triple your Adsense revenue by converting a poor layout into a better one. This is the main reason why during my first year of income, my traffic grew at 20% per month, but my income grew at 50% per month. Frequent testing and optimization had a major positive impact. Many of my tests failed, and some even made my income go down, but I’m glad I did all that testing. If I didn’t then my Adsense income would only be a fraction of what it is now.
It’s cheap to experiment. Every new advertising or affiliate service I’ve tried so far has been free to sign up. Often I can add a new income stream in less than an hour and then wait a month to see how it does. If it flops then at least I learned something. If it does well, wonderful. As a blogger who wants to generate income, you should always be experimenting with new income streams. If you haven’t tried anything new in six months, you’re almost certainly missing some golden opportunities. Every blog is different, so you need to test things for yourself to see what works for you. Failure is impossible here — you either succeed, or you learn something.
Pick your niche, but make sure it isn’t too small
Pick a niche for your blog where you have some significant expertise, but make sure it’s a big enough niche that you can build significant traffic. My wife runs a popular vegan web site. She does pretty well within her niche, but it’s just not a very big niche. On the other hand, my topic of personal development has much broader appeal. Potentially anyone can be interested in improving themselves, and I have the flexibility to write about topics like productivity, self-discipline, relationships, spirituality, health, and more. It’s all relevant to personal development.
Pick a niche that you’re passionate about. I’ve written 400+ articles so far, and I still feel like I’m just getting started. I’m not feeling burnt out at all. I chose to build a personal development site because I’m very knowledgeable, experienced, and passionate about this subject. I couldn’t imagine a better topic for me to write about.
Don’t pick a niche just because you think it will make you money. I see many bloggers try to do that, and it’s almost invariably a recipe for failure. Think about what you love most, and then find a way to make your topic appealing to a massive global audience. Consider what will provide genuine value to your visitors. It’s all about what you can give.
A broad enough topic creates more potential advertising partners. If I keep writing on the same subtopic over and over, I may exhaust the supply of advertisers and hit an income ceiling. But by writing on many different topics under the same umbrella, I widen the field of potential advertisers. And I expand the appeal of my site at the same time.
Make it clear to your visitors what your blog/site is about. Often I visit a blog with a clever title and tagline that reveals nothing about the site’s contents. In that case I generally assume it’s just a personal journal and move on. I love to be clever too, but I’ve found that clarity yields better results than cleverness.
Posting frequency and length
Bloggers have different opinions about the right posting length and frequency. Some bloggers say it’s best to write short (250-750 word) entries and post 20x per week or more. I’ve seen that strategy work for some, but I decided to do pretty much the opposite. I usually aim for about 3-5 posts per week, but my posts are much longer (typically 1000-2000 words, sometimes longer than 5000 words, including the monster you’re reading right now). That’s because rather than throwing out lots of short tips, I prefer to write more exhaustive, in-depth articles. I find that deeper articles are better at generating links and referrals and building traffic. It’s true that fewer people will take the time to read them, but those that do will enjoy some serious take-away value. I don’t believe in creating disposable content just to increase page views and ad impressions. If I’m not truly helping my visitors, I’m wasting their time.
Expenses
Blogging is dirt cheap.
I don’t spend money on advertising or promotion, so my marketing expenses are nil. Essentially my content is my marketing. If you like this article, you’ll probably find many more gems in the archives.
My only real expenses for this site are the hosting (I currently pay $149/month for the web server and bandwidth) and the domain name renewal ($9/year). Nearly all of the income this site generates is profit. This trickles down to my personal income, so of course it’s subject to income tax. But the actual business expenses are minimal.
The reason I pay so much for hosting is simply due to my traffic. If my traffic were much lower, I could run this site on a cheap shared hosting account. A database-driven blog can be a real resource hog at high traffic levels. The same goes for online forums. As traffic continues to increase, my hosting bill will go up too, but it will still be a tiny fraction of total income.
Perks
Depending on the nature of your blog, you may be able to enjoy some nice perks as your traffic grows. Almost every week I get free personal development books in the mail (for potential review on this site). Sometimes the author will send it directly; other times the publisher will ship me a batch of books. I also receive CDs, DVDs, and other personal development products. It’s hard to keep up sometimes (I have a queue of about two dozen books right now), but I am a voracious consumer of such products, so I do plow through them as fast as I can. When something strikes me as worthy of mention, I do indeed write up a review to share it with my visitors. I have very high standards though, so I review less than 10% of what I receive. I’ve read over 700 books in this field and listened to dozens of audio programs, so I’m pretty good at filtering out the fluff. As I’m sure you can imagine, there’s a great deal of self-help fluff out there.
My criteria for reviewing a product on this site is that it has to be original, compelling, and profound. If it doesn’t meet these criteria, I don’t review it, even if there’s a generous affiliate program. I’m not going to risk abusing my relationship with my visitors just to make a quick buck. Making money is not my main motivation for running this site. My main motivation is to grow and to help others grow, so that always comes first.
Your blog can also gain you access to certain events. A high-traffic blog becomes a potential media outlet, so you can actually think of yourself as a member of the press, which indeed you are. In a few days, my wife and I will be attending a three-day seminar via a free press pass. The regular price for these tickets is $500 per person. I’ll be posting a full review of the seminar next week. I’ve been to this particular seminar in 2004, so I already have high expectations for it. Dr. Wayne Dyer will be the keynote speaker.
I’m also using the popularity of this blog to set up interviews with people I’ve always wanted to learn more about. This is beautifully win-win because it creates value for me, my audience, and the person being interviewed. Recently I posted an exclusive interview with multi-millionaire Marc Allen as well as a review of his latest book, and I’m lining up other interviews as well. It isn’t hard to convince someone to do an interview in exchange for so much free exposure.
Motivation
I don’t think you’ll get very far if money is your #1 motivation for blogging. You have to be driven by something much deeper. Money is just frosting. It’s the cake underneath that matters. My cake is that I absolutely love personal development – not the phony “fast and easy” junk you see on infomercials, but real growth that makes us better human beings. That’s my passion. Pouring money on top of it just adds more fuel to the fire, but the fire is still there with or without the money.
What’s your passion? What would you blog about if you were already set for life?
Blogging lifestyle
Perhaps the best part of generating income from blogging is the freedom it brings. I work from home and set my own hours. I write whenever I’m inspired to write (which for me is quite often). Plus I get to spend my time doing what I love most — working on personal growth and helping others do the same. There’s nothing I’d rather do than this.
Perhaps it’s true that 99 out of 100 people can’t make a decent living from blogging yet. But maybe you’re among the 1 in 100 who can.
On the other hand, I can offer you a good alternative to recommend if you don’t have the technical skills to build a high-traffic, income-generating blog. Check out Build Your Own Successful Online Business for details.
Now start your first blog.
How to Make Money From Your Blog - Part 2
Web savvy
What do I mean by web savvy? You don’t need to be a programmer, but you need a decent functional understanding of a variety of web technologies. What technologies are “key” will depend on the nature of your blog and your means of monetization. But generally speaking I’d list these elements as significant:
•blog publishing software
•HTML/CSS
•blog comments (and comment spam)
•RSS/syndication
•feed aggregators
•pings
•trackbacks
•full vs. partial feeds
•blog carnivals (for kick-starting your blog’s traffic)
•search engines
•search engine optimization (SEO)
•page rank
•social bookmarking
•tagging
•contextual advertising
•affiliate programs
•traffic statistics
•email
Optional: podcasting, instant messaging, PHP or other web scripting languages.
I’m sure I missed a few due to familiarity blindness. If scanning such a list makes your head spin, I wouldn’t recommend trying to make a full-time living from blogging just yet. Certainly you can still blog, but you’ll be at a serious disadvantage compared to someone who’s more web savvy, so don’t expect to achieve stellar results until you expand your knowledge base.
If you want to sell downloadable products such as ebooks, then you can add e-commerce, SSL, digital delivery, fraud prevention, and online databases to the list. Again, you don’t need to be a programmer; you just need a basic understanding of these technologies. Even if you hire someone else to handle the low-level implementation, it’s important to know what you’re getting into. You need to be able to trust your strategic decisions, and you won’t be able to do that if you’re a General who doesn’t know what a gun is.
A lack of understanding is a major cause of failure in the realm of online income generation. For example, if you’re clueless about search engine optimization (SEO), you’ll probably cripple your search engine rankings compared to someone who understands SEO well. But you can’t consider each technology in isolation. You need to understand the connections and trade-offs between them. Monetizing a blog is a balancing act. You may need to balance the needs of yourself, your visitors, search engines, those who link to you, social bookmarking sites, advertisers, affiliate programs, and others. Seemingly minor decisions like what to title a web page are significant. In coming up with the title of this article, I have to take all of these potential viewers into consideration. I want a title that is attractive to human visitors, drives reasonable search engine traffic, yields relevant contextual ads, fits the theme of the site, and encourages linking and social bookmarking. And most importantly I want each article to provide genuine value to my visitors. I do my best to create titles for my articles that balance these various needs. Often that means abandoning cutesy or clever titles in favor of direct and comprehensible ones. It’s little skills like these that help drive sustainable traffic growth month after month. Missing out on just this one skill is enough to cripple your traffic. And there are dozens of these types of skills that require web savvy to understand, respect, and apply.
This sort of knowledge is what separates the 1% from the 99%. Both groups may work just as hard, but the 1% is getting much better results for their efforts. It normally doesn’t take me more than 60 seconds to title an article, but a lot of experience goes into those 60 seconds. You really just have to learn these ideas once; after that you can apply them routinely.
Whenever you come across a significant web technology you don’t understand, look it up on Google or Wikipedia, and dive into it long enough to acquire a basic understanding of it. To make money from blogging it’s important to be something of a jack of all trades. Maybe you’ve heard the expression, “A jack of all trades is a master of none.” That may be true, but you don’t need to master any of these technologies — you just have to be good enough to use them. It’s the difference between being able to drive a car vs. becoming an auto mechanic. Strive to achieve functional knowledge, and then move on to something else. Even though I’m an experienced programmer, I don’t know how many web technologies actually work. I don’t really care. I can still use them to generate results. In the time it would take me to fully understand one new technology, I can achieve sufficient functional knowledge to apply several of them.
Thriving on change
Your greatest risk isn’t that you’ll make mistakes that will cost you. Your greatest risk is that you’ll miss opportunities. You need an entrepreneurial mindset, not an employee mindset. Don’t be too concerned with the risk of loss — be more concerned with the risk of missed gains. It’s what you don’t know and what you don’t do that will hurt you the worst. Blogging is cheap. Your expenses and financial risk should be minimal. Your real concern should be missing opportunities that would have made you money very easily. You need to develop antennae that can listen out for new opportunities. I highly recommend subscribing to Darren Rowse’s Problogger blog — Darren is great at uncovering new income-generating opportunities for bloggers.
The blogosphere changes rapidly, and change creates opportunity. It takes some brains to decipher these opportunities and to take advantage of them before they disappear. If you hesitate to capitalize on something new and exciting, you may simply miss out. Many opportunities are temporary. And every day you don’t implement them, you’re losing money you could have earned. And you’re also missing opportunities to build traffic, grow your audience, and benefit more people.
I used to get annoyed by the rapid rate of change of web technologies. It’s even more rapid than what I saw when I worked in the computer gaming industry. And the rate of change is accelerating. Almost every week now I learn about some fascinating new web service or idea that could potentially lead to big changes down the road. Making sense of them is a full-time job in itself. But I learned to love this insane pace. If I’m confused then everyone else is probably confused too. And people who only do this part-time will be very confused. If they aren’t confused, then they aren’t keeping up. So if I can be just a little bit faster and understand these technologies just a little bit sooner, then I can capitalize on some serious opportunities before the barriers to entry become too high. Even though confusion is uncomfortable, it’s really a good thing for a web entrepreneur. This is what creates the space for a college student to earn $1,000,000 online in just a few months with a clever idea. Remember this isn’t a zero-sum game. Don’t let someone else’s success make you feel diminished or jealous. Let it inspire you instead.
What’s your overall income-generation strategy?
I don’t want to insult anyone, but most people are utterly clueless when it comes to generating income from their blogs. They slap things together haphazardly with no rhyme or reason and hope to generate lots of money. While I’m a strong advocate of the ready-fire-aim approach, that strategy does require that you eventually aim. Ready-fire-fire-fire-fire will just create a mess.
Take a moment to articulate a basic income-generating strategy for your site. If you aren’t good at strategy, then just come up with a general philosophy for how you’re going to generate income. You don’t need a full business plan, just a description of how you plan to get from $0 per month to whatever your income goal is. An initial target goal I used when I first started this site was $3000 per month. It’s a somewhat arbitrary figure, but I knew if I could reach $3000 per month, I could certainly push it higher, and $3000 is enough income that it’s going to make a meaningful difference in my finances. I reached that level 15 months after launching the site (in December 2005). And since then it’s continued to increase nicely. Blogging income is actually quite easy to maintain. It’s a lot more secure than a regular job. No one can fire me, and if one source of income dries up, I can always add new ones. We’ll address multiple streams of income soon…
Are you going to generate income from advertising, affiliate commissions, product sales, donations, or something else? Maybe you want a combination of these things. However you decide to generate income, put your basic strategy down in writing. I took 15 minutes to create a half-page summary of my monetization strategy. I only update it about once a year and review it once a month. This isn’t difficult, but it helps me stay focused on where I’m headed. It also allows me to say no to opportunities that are inconsistent with my plan.
by Steve Pavlina
Refer to your monetization strategy (or philosophy) when you need to make design decisions for your web site. Although you may have multiple streams of income, decide which type of income will be your primary source, and design your site around that. Do you need to funnel people towards an order form, or will you place ads all over the site? Different monetization strategies suggest different design approaches. Think about what specific action you want your visitors to eventually take that will generate income for you, and design your site accordingly.
When devising your income strategy, feel free to cheat. Don’t re-invent the wheel. Copy someone else’s strategy that you’re convinced would work for you too. Do NOT copy anyone’s content or site layout (that’s copyright infringement), but take note of how they’re making money. I decided to monetize this site with advertising and affiliate income after researching how various successful bloggers generated income. Later I added donations as well. This is an effective combo.
to be continued
What do I mean by web savvy? You don’t need to be a programmer, but you need a decent functional understanding of a variety of web technologies. What technologies are “key” will depend on the nature of your blog and your means of monetization. But generally speaking I’d list these elements as significant:
•blog publishing software
•HTML/CSS
•blog comments (and comment spam)
•RSS/syndication
•feed aggregators
•pings
•trackbacks
•full vs. partial feeds
•blog carnivals (for kick-starting your blog’s traffic)
•search engines
•search engine optimization (SEO)
•page rank
•social bookmarking
•tagging
•contextual advertising
•affiliate programs
•traffic statistics
Optional: podcasting, instant messaging, PHP or other web scripting languages.
I’m sure I missed a few due to familiarity blindness. If scanning such a list makes your head spin, I wouldn’t recommend trying to make a full-time living from blogging just yet. Certainly you can still blog, but you’ll be at a serious disadvantage compared to someone who’s more web savvy, so don’t expect to achieve stellar results until you expand your knowledge base.
If you want to sell downloadable products such as ebooks, then you can add e-commerce, SSL, digital delivery, fraud prevention, and online databases to the list. Again, you don’t need to be a programmer; you just need a basic understanding of these technologies. Even if you hire someone else to handle the low-level implementation, it’s important to know what you’re getting into. You need to be able to trust your strategic decisions, and you won’t be able to do that if you’re a General who doesn’t know what a gun is.
A lack of understanding is a major cause of failure in the realm of online income generation. For example, if you’re clueless about search engine optimization (SEO), you’ll probably cripple your search engine rankings compared to someone who understands SEO well. But you can’t consider each technology in isolation. You need to understand the connections and trade-offs between them. Monetizing a blog is a balancing act. You may need to balance the needs of yourself, your visitors, search engines, those who link to you, social bookmarking sites, advertisers, affiliate programs, and others. Seemingly minor decisions like what to title a web page are significant. In coming up with the title of this article, I have to take all of these potential viewers into consideration. I want a title that is attractive to human visitors, drives reasonable search engine traffic, yields relevant contextual ads, fits the theme of the site, and encourages linking and social bookmarking. And most importantly I want each article to provide genuine value to my visitors. I do my best to create titles for my articles that balance these various needs. Often that means abandoning cutesy or clever titles in favor of direct and comprehensible ones. It’s little skills like these that help drive sustainable traffic growth month after month. Missing out on just this one skill is enough to cripple your traffic. And there are dozens of these types of skills that require web savvy to understand, respect, and apply.
This sort of knowledge is what separates the 1% from the 99%. Both groups may work just as hard, but the 1% is getting much better results for their efforts. It normally doesn’t take me more than 60 seconds to title an article, but a lot of experience goes into those 60 seconds. You really just have to learn these ideas once; after that you can apply them routinely.
Whenever you come across a significant web technology you don’t understand, look it up on Google or Wikipedia, and dive into it long enough to acquire a basic understanding of it. To make money from blogging it’s important to be something of a jack of all trades. Maybe you’ve heard the expression, “A jack of all trades is a master of none.” That may be true, but you don’t need to master any of these technologies — you just have to be good enough to use them. It’s the difference between being able to drive a car vs. becoming an auto mechanic. Strive to achieve functional knowledge, and then move on to something else. Even though I’m an experienced programmer, I don’t know how many web technologies actually work. I don’t really care. I can still use them to generate results. In the time it would take me to fully understand one new technology, I can achieve sufficient functional knowledge to apply several of them.
Thriving on change
Your greatest risk isn’t that you’ll make mistakes that will cost you. Your greatest risk is that you’ll miss opportunities. You need an entrepreneurial mindset, not an employee mindset. Don’t be too concerned with the risk of loss — be more concerned with the risk of missed gains. It’s what you don’t know and what you don’t do that will hurt you the worst. Blogging is cheap. Your expenses and financial risk should be minimal. Your real concern should be missing opportunities that would have made you money very easily. You need to develop antennae that can listen out for new opportunities. I highly recommend subscribing to Darren Rowse’s Problogger blog — Darren is great at uncovering new income-generating opportunities for bloggers.
The blogosphere changes rapidly, and change creates opportunity. It takes some brains to decipher these opportunities and to take advantage of them before they disappear. If you hesitate to capitalize on something new and exciting, you may simply miss out. Many opportunities are temporary. And every day you don’t implement them, you’re losing money you could have earned. And you’re also missing opportunities to build traffic, grow your audience, and benefit more people.
I used to get annoyed by the rapid rate of change of web technologies. It’s even more rapid than what I saw when I worked in the computer gaming industry. And the rate of change is accelerating. Almost every week now I learn about some fascinating new web service or idea that could potentially lead to big changes down the road. Making sense of them is a full-time job in itself. But I learned to love this insane pace. If I’m confused then everyone else is probably confused too. And people who only do this part-time will be very confused. If they aren’t confused, then they aren’t keeping up. So if I can be just a little bit faster and understand these technologies just a little bit sooner, then I can capitalize on some serious opportunities before the barriers to entry become too high. Even though confusion is uncomfortable, it’s really a good thing for a web entrepreneur. This is what creates the space for a college student to earn $1,000,000 online in just a few months with a clever idea. Remember this isn’t a zero-sum game. Don’t let someone else’s success make you feel diminished or jealous. Let it inspire you instead.
What’s your overall income-generation strategy?
I don’t want to insult anyone, but most people are utterly clueless when it comes to generating income from their blogs. They slap things together haphazardly with no rhyme or reason and hope to generate lots of money. While I’m a strong advocate of the ready-fire-aim approach, that strategy does require that you eventually aim. Ready-fire-fire-fire-fire will just create a mess.
Take a moment to articulate a basic income-generating strategy for your site. If you aren’t good at strategy, then just come up with a general philosophy for how you’re going to generate income. You don’t need a full business plan, just a description of how you plan to get from $0 per month to whatever your income goal is. An initial target goal I used when I first started this site was $3000 per month. It’s a somewhat arbitrary figure, but I knew if I could reach $3000 per month, I could certainly push it higher, and $3000 is enough income that it’s going to make a meaningful difference in my finances. I reached that level 15 months after launching the site (in December 2005). And since then it’s continued to increase nicely. Blogging income is actually quite easy to maintain. It’s a lot more secure than a regular job. No one can fire me, and if one source of income dries up, I can always add new ones. We’ll address multiple streams of income soon…
Are you going to generate income from advertising, affiliate commissions, product sales, donations, or something else? Maybe you want a combination of these things. However you decide to generate income, put your basic strategy down in writing. I took 15 minutes to create a half-page summary of my monetization strategy. I only update it about once a year and review it once a month. This isn’t difficult, but it helps me stay focused on where I’m headed. It also allows me to say no to opportunities that are inconsistent with my plan.
by Steve Pavlina
Refer to your monetization strategy (or philosophy) when you need to make design decisions for your web site. Although you may have multiple streams of income, decide which type of income will be your primary source, and design your site around that. Do you need to funnel people towards an order form, or will you place ads all over the site? Different monetization strategies suggest different design approaches. Think about what specific action you want your visitors to eventually take that will generate income for you, and design your site accordingly.
When devising your income strategy, feel free to cheat. Don’t re-invent the wheel. Copy someone else’s strategy that you’re convinced would work for you too. Do NOT copy anyone’s content or site layout (that’s copyright infringement), but take note of how they’re making money. I decided to monetize this site with advertising and affiliate income after researching how various successful bloggers generated income. Later I added donations as well. This is an effective combo.
to be continued
How to Make Money From Your Blog - Part 1
by Steve Pavlina
StevePavlina.com was launched on Oct 1st, 2004. By April 2005 it was averaging $4.12/day in income. Now it brings in over $200/day $1000/day (updated as of 10/29/06). I didn’t spend a dime on marketing or promotion. In fact, I started this site with just $9 to register the domain name, and everything was bootstrapped from there. Would you like to know how I did it?
This article is seriously long (over 7300 words), but you’re sure to get your money’s worth (hehehe). I’ll even share some specifics. If you don’t have time to read it now, feel free to bookmark it or print it out for later.
Do you actually want to monetize your blog?
Some people have strong personal feelings with respect to making money from their blogs. If you think commercializing your blog is evil, immoral, unethical, uncool, lame, greedy, obnoxious, or anything along those lines, then don’t commercialize it.
If you have mixed feelings about monetizing your blog, then sort out those feelings first. If you think monetizing your site is wonderful, fine. If you think it’s evil, fine. But make up your mind before you seriously consider starting down this path. If you want to succeed, you must be congruent. Generating income from your blog is challenging enough — you don’t want to be dealing with self-sabotage at the same time. It should feel genuinely good to earn income from your blog — you should be driven by a healthy ambition to succeed. If your blog provides genuine value, you fully deserve to earn income from it. If, however, you find yourself full of doubts over whether this is the right path for you, you might find this article helpful: How Selfish Are You? It’s about balancing your needs with the needs of others.
If you do decide to generate income from your blog, then don’t be shy about it. If you’re going to put up ads, then really put up ads. Don’t just stick a puny little ad square in a remote corner somewhere. If you’re going to request donations, then really request donations. Don’t put up a barely visible “Donate” link and pray for the best. If you’re going to sell products, then really sell them. Create or acquire the best quality products you can, and give your visitors compelling reasons to buy. If you’re going to do this, then fully commit to it. Don’t take a half-assed approach. Either be full-assed or no-assed.
You can reasonably expect that when you begin commercializing a free site, some people will complain, depending on how you do it. I launched this site in October 2004, and I began putting Google Adsense ads on the site in February 2005. There were some complaints, but I expected that — it was really no big deal. Less than 1 in 5,000 visitors actually sent me negative feedback. Most people who sent feedback were surprisingly supportive. Most of the complaints died off within a few weeks, and the site began generating income almost immediately, although it was pretty low — a whopping $53 the first month. If you’d like to see some month-by-month specifics, I posted my 2005 Adsense revenue figures earlier this year. Adsense is still my single best source of revenue for this site, although it’s certainly not my only source. More on that later…
Can you make a decent income online?
Yes, absolutely. At the very least, a high five-figure annual income is certainly an attainable goal for an individual working full-time from home. I’m making a healthy income from StevePavlina.com, and the site is only 19 months old… barely a toddler. If you have a day job, it will take longer to generate a livable income, but it can still be done part-time if you’re willing to devote a lot of your spare time to it. I’ve always done it full-time.
Can most people do it?
No, they can’t. I hope it doesn’t shock you to see a personal development web site use the dreaded C-word. But I happen to agree with those who say that 99% of people who try to generate serious income from their blogs will fail. The tagline for this site is “Personal Development for Smart People.” And unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your outlook), smart people are a minority on this planet. So while most people can’t make a living this way, I would say that most smart people can. How do you know whether or not you qualify as smart? Here’s a good rule of thumb: If you have to ask the question, you aren’t.
If that last paragraph doesn’t flood my inbox with flames, I don’t know what will. OK, actually I do.
This kind of 99-1 ratio isn’t unique to blogging though. You’ll see it in any field with relatively low barriers to entry. What percentage of wannabe actors, musicians, or athletes ever make enough money from their passions to support themselves? It doesn’t take much effort to start a blog these days — almost anyone can do it. Talent counts for something, and the talent that matters in blogging is intelligence. But that just gets you in the door. You need to specifically apply your intelligence to one particular talent. And the best words I can think of to describe that particular talent are: web savvy.
If you are very web savvy, or if you can learn to become very web savvy, then you have an excellent shot of making enough money from your blog to cover all your living expenses… and then some. But if becoming truly web savvy is more than your gray matter can handle, then I’ll offer this advice: Don’t quit your day job.
to be continued
StevePavlina.com was launched on Oct 1st, 2004. By April 2005 it was averaging $4.12/day in income. Now it brings in over $200/day $1000/day (updated as of 10/29/06). I didn’t spend a dime on marketing or promotion. In fact, I started this site with just $9 to register the domain name, and everything was bootstrapped from there. Would you like to know how I did it?
This article is seriously long (over 7300 words), but you’re sure to get your money’s worth (hehehe). I’ll even share some specifics. If you don’t have time to read it now, feel free to bookmark it or print it out for later.
Do you actually want to monetize your blog?
Some people have strong personal feelings with respect to making money from their blogs. If you think commercializing your blog is evil, immoral, unethical, uncool, lame, greedy, obnoxious, or anything along those lines, then don’t commercialize it.
If you have mixed feelings about monetizing your blog, then sort out those feelings first. If you think monetizing your site is wonderful, fine. If you think it’s evil, fine. But make up your mind before you seriously consider starting down this path. If you want to succeed, you must be congruent. Generating income from your blog is challenging enough — you don’t want to be dealing with self-sabotage at the same time. It should feel genuinely good to earn income from your blog — you should be driven by a healthy ambition to succeed. If your blog provides genuine value, you fully deserve to earn income from it. If, however, you find yourself full of doubts over whether this is the right path for you, you might find this article helpful: How Selfish Are You? It’s about balancing your needs with the needs of others.
If you do decide to generate income from your blog, then don’t be shy about it. If you’re going to put up ads, then really put up ads. Don’t just stick a puny little ad square in a remote corner somewhere. If you’re going to request donations, then really request donations. Don’t put up a barely visible “Donate” link and pray for the best. If you’re going to sell products, then really sell them. Create or acquire the best quality products you can, and give your visitors compelling reasons to buy. If you’re going to do this, then fully commit to it. Don’t take a half-assed approach. Either be full-assed or no-assed.
You can reasonably expect that when you begin commercializing a free site, some people will complain, depending on how you do it. I launched this site in October 2004, and I began putting Google Adsense ads on the site in February 2005. There were some complaints, but I expected that — it was really no big deal. Less than 1 in 5,000 visitors actually sent me negative feedback. Most people who sent feedback were surprisingly supportive. Most of the complaints died off within a few weeks, and the site began generating income almost immediately, although it was pretty low — a whopping $53 the first month. If you’d like to see some month-by-month specifics, I posted my 2005 Adsense revenue figures earlier this year. Adsense is still my single best source of revenue for this site, although it’s certainly not my only source. More on that later…
Can you make a decent income online?
Yes, absolutely. At the very least, a high five-figure annual income is certainly an attainable goal for an individual working full-time from home. I’m making a healthy income from StevePavlina.com, and the site is only 19 months old… barely a toddler. If you have a day job, it will take longer to generate a livable income, but it can still be done part-time if you’re willing to devote a lot of your spare time to it. I’ve always done it full-time.
Can most people do it?
No, they can’t. I hope it doesn’t shock you to see a personal development web site use the dreaded C-word. But I happen to agree with those who say that 99% of people who try to generate serious income from their blogs will fail. The tagline for this site is “Personal Development for Smart People.” And unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your outlook), smart people are a minority on this planet. So while most people can’t make a living this way, I would say that most smart people can. How do you know whether or not you qualify as smart? Here’s a good rule of thumb: If you have to ask the question, you aren’t.
If that last paragraph doesn’t flood my inbox with flames, I don’t know what will. OK, actually I do.
This kind of 99-1 ratio isn’t unique to blogging though. You’ll see it in any field with relatively low barriers to entry. What percentage of wannabe actors, musicians, or athletes ever make enough money from their passions to support themselves? It doesn’t take much effort to start a blog these days — almost anyone can do it. Talent counts for something, and the talent that matters in blogging is intelligence. But that just gets you in the door. You need to specifically apply your intelligence to one particular talent. And the best words I can think of to describe that particular talent are: web savvy.
If you are very web savvy, or if you can learn to become very web savvy, then you have an excellent shot of making enough money from your blog to cover all your living expenses… and then some. But if becoming truly web savvy is more than your gray matter can handle, then I’ll offer this advice: Don’t quit your day job.
to be continued
How to make $$money$$ with Facebook!!! Another Methode
STEP 1
Add this group and send out some invites to friends on your list.
INVITE ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS BY CLICKING 'INVITE PEOPLE TO JOIN' ON THE RIGHT.
STEP 2
Follow the 2 first step on this page, this takes only 5 minutes.. Then you will receive cheques every two weeks.
STEP 3
Create your own group to market your new personalized affiliate link and invite ALL your friends on the list. In turn your friends will join your group and send invites to all their friends.
STEP 4
Your friends are now marketing your affiliate link and group for you on facebook. You will get 70% Commission on EVERY SALE.
STEP 5
You can advertise your link on the marketplace and add listing like that to make sales and lots of money everyday:
STEP 6
Get paid to chill out on facebook as usual!
You can very possibly add thousands of people to your group and it will grow very fast. This is called viral marketing. you'll be able to make around $150 to $350 each and everyday.
To help this along, add everyone shown below (randomly) as your friend everyday.
Add this group and send out some invites to friends on your list.
INVITE ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS BY CLICKING 'INVITE PEOPLE TO JOIN' ON THE RIGHT.
STEP 2
Follow the 2 first step on this page, this takes only 5 minutes.. Then you will receive cheques every two weeks.
STEP 3
Create your own group to market your new personalized affiliate link and invite ALL your friends on the list. In turn your friends will join your group and send invites to all their friends.
STEP 4
Your friends are now marketing your affiliate link and group for you on facebook. You will get 70% Commission on EVERY SALE.
STEP 5
You can advertise your link on the marketplace and add listing like that to make sales and lots of money everyday:
STEP 6
Get paid to chill out on facebook as usual!
You can very possibly add thousands of people to your group and it will grow very fast. This is called viral marketing. you'll be able to make around $150 to $350 each and everyday.
To help this along, add everyone shown below (randomly) as your friend everyday.
How to make money on your Facebook account without capital
Five simple step to make money on FaceBook
Step 1 :
JOIN THIS GROUP
on right side===>
step 2:
INVITE ALL YOUR FRIEND ON FACEBOOK
(INVITE PEOPLE TO JOIN)
STEP 3:
FOLLOW MY AFFILIATE PROGRAM ON RECENT NEWS
do it step by step, then built your own network
STEP 3:
Make your own Facebook group to sell your affiliate link, you can copy my group, its 100% free buddy
STEP 4:
Promote your link on your WEBSITE or BLOG
STEP 5:
Be patience , wish you luck
===============================
what are Affiliate/ Referral Program?
Affiliation program is a program service provider at Internet where they will give commission to us to each member new that conjoined up our recommendation. Each new member will get one link affiliation or affiliate / referal link of that service provider.
our task is promote their program by attach link affiliation,
We can promote it to friends via FaceBook, Blog, Email, Forum, Yahoogroups, etc.
Step 1 :
JOIN THIS GROUP
on right side===>
step 2:
INVITE ALL YOUR FRIEND ON FACEBOOK
(INVITE PEOPLE TO JOIN)
STEP 3:
FOLLOW MY AFFILIATE PROGRAM ON RECENT NEWS
do it step by step, then built your own network
STEP 3:
Make your own Facebook group to sell your affiliate link, you can copy my group, its 100% free buddy
STEP 4:
Promote your link on your WEBSITE or BLOG
STEP 5:
Be patience , wish you luck
===============================
what are Affiliate/ Referral Program?
Affiliation program is a program service provider at Internet where they will give commission to us to each member new that conjoined up our recommendation. Each new member will get one link affiliation or affiliate / referal link of that service provider.
our task is promote their program by attach link affiliation,
We can promote it to friends via FaceBook, Blog, Email, Forum, Yahoogroups, etc.
A Secret About Money
by Dr. Joe Vitale
www.mrfire.com
Let me tell you a secret about money.
One day Pat O'Bryan, a wonderful Texas musician well known in Europe, walked into a Master Mind group we are in and announced, "One day I'm going to write a book titled, 'The Myth of Passive Income.'"
He was joking. Everyone laughed. He had been working hard on his site at www.InstantChange.com and realized from first-hand experience that there is little passive about passive income.
I heard an opportunity.
"You ought to write that book right now," I said.
Every one shut up. They looked at me.
"It's a great idea," I explained. "People think passive income is doing nothing all day and making money while you sleep. It isn't quite like that. So let's blow the whistle and tell people the truth."
Pat was beginning to learn how to act when an opportunity popped up.
"I'll do it," he said.
We met in the parking lot after the group meeting.
He asked, "Would you go ahead and write a letter asking people making money online if they would contribute an article to our book? We just want to know what a typical day for them is like. I bet they don't sit around doing nothing."
Suddenly I was the coauthor in this project. Well, I see opportunities and jump on them, too. I agreed.
I went home, went to my computer, and drafted a letter. It was simple. I asked people online if they would tell us what a day was like in their "passive" world. I sent the letter to Pat.
He approved it almost instantly.
I then sent it out to every list owner I knew. This all happened within maybe three hours.
Within 24 hours we had wonderful articles by David Garfinkel and Tom Antion. Later the same day I heard from Jim Edwards, Yanik Silver, Jo Han Mok, and other online giants, all agreeing to send articles for our book.
And we just released the ebook today. (See it at
http://www.MythOfPassiveIncome.com.)
Now note what happened here:
A spontaneous joke became a project. That project began to take form within three hours. And within one day the book was being written -- and not by Pat OR me.
This process is how I created such mon-ey-making digital products as my online e-classes, several bestselling e-books, and even a few online promotional campaigns. I came up with the ideas and within minutes acted on them. The result: Success.
So what does money like?
Money likes speed.
That's the secret few know about money.
Money comes to those who act fast.
If you think, wonder, question, doubt, plan, meet, discuss, or in any other way drag your feet, money goes to the next person in line.
If you want to know how I've managed to write so many books and articles, it's because I act fast. This very article is an example.
Twenty minutes ago I got the idea to write something about "Money liking action." I thought I should write it some day. Then I thought, "Why not NOW?"
Well, here you go.
It's done.
And I'm now sending it out to the online world. It will tell people about me and my products, send some people to my site at www.MrFire.com and others to Pat's site at www.InstantChange.com and still others to http://www.MythOfPassiveIncome.com and we'll both make money now and later.
It happened because I know a secret about money.
You now know the secret, too.
So -- What are YOU waiting to do?
Dr. Joe Vitale is the author of way too many books to list here. His latest title is "The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or anything else) From the Inside Out." Register for his monthly complimentary ezine at http://www.mrfire.com/
His Executive Mentoring Program is described at
http://www.joevitalecoach.com/campaigns/vitale-marketing/index.php
Copyright © 2005 by Joe Vitale. All rights reserved.
You may forward this in its entirety to anyone you wish.
Hypnotic Marketing Inc.
121 Canyon Gap Rd
Wimberley TX 78676
Member BBB Online 2005
www.mrfire.com
Let me tell you a secret about money.
One day Pat O'Bryan, a wonderful Texas musician well known in Europe, walked into a Master Mind group we are in and announced, "One day I'm going to write a book titled, 'The Myth of Passive Income.'"
He was joking. Everyone laughed. He had been working hard on his site at www.InstantChange.com and realized from first-hand experience that there is little passive about passive income.
I heard an opportunity.
"You ought to write that book right now," I said.
Every one shut up. They looked at me.
"It's a great idea," I explained. "People think passive income is doing nothing all day and making money while you sleep. It isn't quite like that. So let's blow the whistle and tell people the truth."
Pat was beginning to learn how to act when an opportunity popped up.
"I'll do it," he said.
We met in the parking lot after the group meeting.
He asked, "Would you go ahead and write a letter asking people making money online if they would contribute an article to our book? We just want to know what a typical day for them is like. I bet they don't sit around doing nothing."
Suddenly I was the coauthor in this project. Well, I see opportunities and jump on them, too. I agreed.
I went home, went to my computer, and drafted a letter. It was simple. I asked people online if they would tell us what a day was like in their "passive" world. I sent the letter to Pat.
He approved it almost instantly.
I then sent it out to every list owner I knew. This all happened within maybe three hours.
Within 24 hours we had wonderful articles by David Garfinkel and Tom Antion. Later the same day I heard from Jim Edwards, Yanik Silver, Jo Han Mok, and other online giants, all agreeing to send articles for our book.
And we just released the ebook today. (See it at
http://www.MythOfPassiveIncome.com.)
Now note what happened here:
A spontaneous joke became a project. That project began to take form within three hours. And within one day the book was being written -- and not by Pat OR me.
This process is how I created such mon-ey-making digital products as my online e-classes, several bestselling e-books, and even a few online promotional campaigns. I came up with the ideas and within minutes acted on them. The result: Success.
So what does money like?
Money likes speed.
That's the secret few know about money.
Money comes to those who act fast.
If you think, wonder, question, doubt, plan, meet, discuss, or in any other way drag your feet, money goes to the next person in line.
If you want to know how I've managed to write so many books and articles, it's because I act fast. This very article is an example.
Twenty minutes ago I got the idea to write something about "Money liking action." I thought I should write it some day. Then I thought, "Why not NOW?"
Well, here you go.
It's done.
And I'm now sending it out to the online world. It will tell people about me and my products, send some people to my site at www.MrFire.com and others to Pat's site at www.InstantChange.com and still others to http://www.MythOfPassiveIncome.com and we'll both make money now and later.
It happened because I know a secret about money.
You now know the secret, too.
So -- What are YOU waiting to do?
Dr. Joe Vitale is the author of way too many books to list here. His latest title is "The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or anything else) From the Inside Out." Register for his monthly complimentary ezine at http://www.mrfire.com/
His Executive Mentoring Program is described at
http://www.joevitalecoach.com/campaigns/vitale-marketing/index.php
Copyright © 2005 by Joe Vitale. All rights reserved.
You may forward this in its entirety to anyone you wish.
Hypnotic Marketing Inc.
121 Canyon Gap Rd
Wimberley TX 78676
Member BBB Online 2005
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