A good logo goes a long way in establishing your business identity and creating brand recognition. Your logo should reflect what your business does. It should be unique, eye-catching and easy to identify.
Creating Your Own Logo or Hiring a Pro
There are a number of software tools to help you create your own logo if you have some artistic talent or your initial logo is going to be very simple and you want to save money. If you're going to do it on you own though, you'll want to know what your printing service demands in the way of formatting requirements and file types that you submit to them for printing your business cards and brochures.
What's in a Logo?
I've noticed in comparing a number of corporate logos that it's common to include the business name, and often the tagline, too as part of the logo. By combining them your logo is readily identifiable to your prospective customers.
Saving Money on Your Business Logo
Hiring an experienced graphic designer to create your logo is a relatively affordable process. Shop around for a good price - the web is a good place to start - and be sure to see some samples of prior work. While art students are an inexpensive option, experienced designers know what printers are looking for in the way of resolution, file format and any limitations on the number of colors used. Another option is to visit a local printing shop or mailbox services store. Both frequently offer logo design services that are quite good.
You will often find that many people confuse marketing with advertising or vice versa. While both components are important they are very different. Knowing the difference and doing your market research can put your company on the path to substantial growth.
Let's start off by reviewing the formal definitions of each and then I'll go into the explanation of how marketing and advertising differ from one another:
Advertising: The paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor; the non-personal presentation or promotion by a firm of its products to its existing and potential customers.
Marketing: The systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products.
After reading both of the definitions it is easy to understand how the difference can be confusing to the point that people think of them as one-in-the same, so lets break it down a bit.
Advertising is a single component of the marketing process. It's the part that involves getting the word out concerning your business, product, or the services you are offering. It involves the process of developing strategies such as ad placement, frequency, etc. Advertising includes the placement of an ad in such mediums as newspapers, direct mail, billboards, television, radio, and of course the Internet. Advertising is the largest expense of most marketing plans, with public relations following in a close second and market research not falling far behind.
The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is to think of marketing as a pie, inside that pie you have slices of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement. Advertising only equals one piece of the pie in the strategy. All of these elements must not only work independently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal. Marketing is a process that takes time and can involve hours of research for a marketing plan to be effective. Think of marketing as everything that an organization does to facilitate an exchange between company and consumer.
If you are looking for a proven legitimate online home business there are a number of things you can do to try and establish whether the opportunity is legitimate or a scam. This is not always easy but it is to your advantage to invest some time in researching the opportunity before parting with any money.
There are thousands of scams on the Internet as well as legitimate online home businesses and for new visitors to the Internet the task of trying to distinguish between the two can be very overwhelming.
Often the scam sites look so attractive and offer such great incomes or rewards that it is hard to believe that it is not legitimate, hence the reason so many people fall prey to the scammers.
So one thing to be wary of is those sites that make huge income claims, like earn $10 000 in your first week or month with an online business. This really is totally unrealistic and if that amount is perhaps fives times your current salary, do you really think it is possible to earn such a huge income in such a short period of time with no prior experience with this type of Internet business?
If the online business opportunity is legitimate then it would not be unreasonable for somebody who has been in the business for a couple of years to be earning a huge income. But be warned that nearly all the business opportunities on the Internet advertise the income of their top earners who have been working hard for a couple of years. They rarely advertise the income of those just starting out in the business. An online business is like any other business, you will need to work hard at building it up over a period of time to produce a good income.
So then do not get carried away with excitement when you find a Website making such unrealistic income claims. The Internet does not have magical powers to enable us to earn magnificent incomes overnight.
One can get so caught up in all the hype that it is easy to sign up for an online business opportunity that does not live up to its promises and this can result in huge disappointment, so a Website that is not promising the Earth is probably a safer Internet business route to take.
When you find a Website offering an online business opportunity that appeals to you, spend some time going through it and do not jump in immediately and part with your money.
Have a look on the Website to see if there is any contact information, either an email address or a Contact icon like an envelope, and send a short message expressing your interest in the Internet business and see if you receive a response. Check also to see if there is a physical address on the Website as this adds credibility.
Look for logos on the Website of the respectable bodies on the internet like the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Truste.org, Alexa Ranking, i-Cop.org click on these logos and you should see information about the site. You could also look up the domain on the DomainTools.com (previously called Who is) Website and you will see the registration details, spend time to see if they look legitimate. For example you do not want to see a phone number listed as 1234567890. You will find a lot of information from this Website, so it is advisable to spend time doing some research.
Check on the Website to see if any guarantees are offered, such as a 30-day 100% money-back guarantee or perhaps a 14 or 30-day free trial offer. It is also a good idea to see if any training is offered, as this is really important if you are new to Internet marketing.
There may also be the opportunity to sign up for a free Newsletter, which will give you the opportunity to not only learn from what the newsletter offers but also enable you to get a general feel for the online business opportunity and put you in touch with your referrer.
At the end of the day, once you have researched the Internet business opportunity thoroughly, sleep on it and take heed of your gut feel and all being well you will learn how to use the Internet to generate an income with your own legitimate online business.
You don't need a million dollar ad budget to make a profit. You just need a solid strategy and a little creativity to turn potential customers into repeat buyers.
Identify Your Target Audience If you're selling coffeemakers, you can rule out teenagers from your audience. A first-person shooter can be geared toward young males as your primary target audience but research shows older men are also playing these types of video games.
Make a list to determine who your target audience is. Be very specific in finding your audience.
If you're opening a clothing store for women, you have a good idea of who you're going to be trying to reach. But what kind of clothing does your store sell?
If it's petite sizes only, your target audience is made up of petite sized women. If your store sells petite sizes for teens, your target audience is now petite young ladies in high school.
Know Where to Advertise Are you a small company who caters to your town's citizens or are you exclusively an online company that sells products over the Internet? Knowing where to advertise and targeting your audience go hand in hand.
Using the clothing store example above, if you're looking to advertise to young women in high school, the local newspaper isn't going to cut it. However, if the high school has a newspaper, that's where you can wisely spend your ad dollars.
A TV commercial airing during the local news may get a few parents interested in the store but a commercial airing in a local commercial break on MTV is the better choice.
Coupon or Special Offer Get customers in the door quickly with a coupon or special offer. It doesn't have to be a four-color fancy coupon. A simple black and white coupon will do or a bold line that says, "Mention this ad and receive 10% off."
Cross promotions are another way to make excellent use of coupons and special offers. Page 2 of this article has full details.
Cross Promotion Cross promoting your company is a highly-effective way to promote your business no matter what your advertising budget.
Take a look at recent Swiffer commercials that feature clips from Cinderella. Disney has paid $150 million to help promote the Cinderella Special Edition DVD release.
Swiffer commercials show a mom struggling to clean her floor while her daughter watches Cinderella on TV. From the TV comes a solution to the mom's cleaning problem and with some Cinderalla-like magic, the mom can now clean her floor with a Swiffer product.
You can do this too without the $150 million budget. You start by knowing what businesses support your own.
Let's say you own a prom dress shop. People who come to buy prom dresses will need their hair done. Now you've got a beauty shop on your list.
They like to have their picture taken. Now you've got a portrait studio on your list.
They get corsages from their dates who also rent tuxedos from your shop. Now you've got a florist on your list.
Approach these companies for a cross promotion. You can choose to advertise together or, at the very least, you can agree to swap fliers that will be displayed at each other's store locations.
An even better solution is to offer customers a discount for doing business with you and the company you're cross promoting with. Offering customers something as simple as 10-percent off for buying a dress from you and getting their hair done at the salon can increase your sales.
Your dress shop could even offer a coupon good for a free corsage on prom night with one tuxedo rental. These little bonus offers can really rack up your sales.
Don't Forget the Basics Location, hours, phone, fax, Email and Web site address are all key information so include them in all of your materials. It may seem obvious but sometimes people get so caught up in the selling message, they actually forget their core information that's vital to the sale.
Getting customers in the door is one of the biggest hurdles you'll face as a business owner. Using these five keys gives you a clear advantage over your competitors that will help grow your company no matter how long you've been in business.
If you are looking for a proven legitimate online home business there are a number of things you can do to try and establish whether the opportunity is legitimate or a scam. This is not always easy but it is to your advantage to invest some time in researching the opportunity before parting with any money.
There are thousands of scams on the Internet as well as legitimate online home businesses and for new visitors to the Internet the task of trying to distinguish between the two can be very overwhelming.
Often the scam sites look so attractive and offer such great incomes or rewards that it is hard to believe that it is not legitimate, hence the reason so many people fall prey to the scammers.
So one thing to be wary of is those sites that make huge income claims, like earn $10 000 in your first week or month with an online business. This really is totally unrealistic and if that amount is perhaps fives times your current salary, do you really think it is possible to earn such a huge income in such a short period of time with no prior experience with this type of Internet business?
If the online business opportunity is legitimate then it would not be unreasonable for somebody who has been in the business for a couple of years to be earning a huge income. But be warned that nearly all the business opportunities on the Internet advertise the income of their top earners who have been working hard for a couple of years. They rarely advertise the income of those just starting out in the business. An online business is like any other business, you will need to work hard at building it up over a period of time to produce a good income.
So then do not get carried away with excitement when you find a Website making such unrealistic income claims. The Internet does not have magical powers to enable us to earn magnificent incomes overnight.
One can get so caught up in all the hype that it is easy to sign up for an online business opportunity that does not live up to its promises and this can result in huge disappointment, so a Website that is not promising the Earth is probably a safer Internet business route to take.
When you find a Website offering an online business opportunity that appeals to you, spend some time going through it and do not jump in immediately and part with your money.
Have a look on the Website to see if there is any contact information, either an email address or a Contact icon like an envelope, and send a short message expressing your interest in the Internet business and see if you receive a response. Check also to see if there is a physical address on the Website as this adds credibility.
Look for logos on the Website of the respectable bodies on the internet like the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Truste.org, Alexa Ranking, i-Cop.org click on these logos and you should see information about the site. You could also look up the domain on the DomainTools.com (previously called Who is) Website and you will see the registration details, spend time to see if they look legitimate. For example you do not want to see a phone number listed as 1234567890. You will find a lot of information from this Website, so it is advisable to spend time doing some research.
Check on the Website to see if any guarantees are offered, such as a 30-day 100% money-back guarantee or perhaps a 14 or 30-day free trial offer. It is also a good idea to see if any training is offered, as this is really important if you are new to Internet marketing.
There may also be the opportunity to sign up for a free Newsletter, which will give you the opportunity to not only learn from what the newsletter offers but also enable you to get a general feel for the online business opportunity and put you in touch with your referrer.
At the end of the day, once you have researched the Internet business opportunity thoroughly, sleep on it and take heed of your gut feel and all being well you will learn how to use the Internet to generate an income with your own legitimate online business.
Someone sent me an email the other day. Supposedly General Colin Powell's Rules for Success. Now, I don't know whether they really are or not, but as I read them, I thought they really should be called "15 Rules For Success In Your Home Business". So, here they are:
Rule 1 - It ain't as bad as you think, it will look better in the morning
If there's one experience universal to ALL home-business owners, particularly those running a business on the internet, it's the occasional feeling that you're just spinning your wheels, and not getting anywhere. The number of people who give up on their businesses just as they approach the brink of success is staggering. So hang in there and remind yourself, when things look bleak, that tomorrow is another day, things really aren't as bad as they seem and things really WILL look better in the morning.
Rule 2 - Get mad, then get over it
OK, I concede this is more general advice than home-business advice but it applies in your home business just as it does anywhere else. Resentment and unexpressed anger really don't hurt anyone but the person feeling resentful and angry. Have you ever noticed how completely unproductive you are when burdened by resentment and anger? So feel it, express it (constructively) and then move on. As the man said, "get over it".
Rule 3 - Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls your ego goes with it
Over the course of my career I have, from time to time, met people whose identity and sense of self-worth is so enmeshed in what they do for a living that they literally don't have an identity outside of their work. Because they rely on an external source for their self-esteem and confidence, they find it necessary to continually and relentlessly bolster their personal positions, often at the expense of others, often resorting to political maneuvring in the workplace to maintain and improve their supposed 'status'.
These people are the 'empire builders' you sometimes find in organizations. They jealously guard their power base all the while gathering unto themselves more and more responsibility, beyond the point of being able to do everything they take on.
Because their identity and sense of self-worth depends upon their position within their organization, what happens when their position disappears, such as in a corporate downsizing? It freefalls.
Don't let this happen to you. Remember that you are something separate and distinct from your business. Sure, you can be proud and pleased with your accomplishments but don't define yourself through them. Your self-worth is something that comes from inside your human self, not your business.
Ironically, keeping a professional detachment is more likely to secure the ultimate success of your business. Detachment brings perspective, objectivity and clarity, which helps you make better quality decisions.
Rule 4 - It can be done
Don't allow self-imposed limitations to restrict what you can and will do. You can do anything if you set your mind to it. Well, of course, it must be something that is within your power - you can't just set your mind on growing a third arm, for example.
But for anything that is within human power and capability, the saying "where there's a will is a way" is so true.
Get into the discipline of planning your life and where you want it to go. By setting goals and planning the steps that will help you reach them, you can achieve literally anything your heart desires.
Rule 5 - Be careful what you choose, you may get it
Following on from this, it should go without saying that what you set for your goals is something you truly want because if you do practice the discipline of goal setting you will surely get it.
Rule 6 - Don't let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision
Keep your eye on the prize and don't be distracted by what's happening on the sidelines. Sure, you may not have entered the marathon had you known there were going to be 1,000 other runners but does that mean entering the marathon was a bad idea? No.
Make your decisions based on quality information and what's in the best interests of your business. If someone else comes along who represents competition for your business, don't be put off your game. Just run your own race. There's ALWAYS a way to distinguish yourself from your competition.
Rule 7 - You can't make someone else's choices. You shouldn't let someone else make yours
IGNORE your mother when she tells you you're crazy for chucking in your nice SAFE secure little job to start your own business. Follow your dream, no-one else's.
Rule 8 - Check small things
Like the fine print in contracts. Like the URL in that sales letter you've just put the finishing touches on. Like your spelling and punctuation. In other words, pay attention to detail.
Rule 9 - Share credit
You've heard the saying, "no man is an island". No woman is either. Remember and acknowledge the people who have helped and continue to help you get where you want to go. Acknowledge the achievements of others.
Rule 10 - Remain calm, be careful
Frenzy and recklessness are hardly the prescription for long-term success in your business. In the face of unexpected challenges, unexplained downturns in business or failure to achieve the results expected, recognize that these are just part of the thrust and parry of business life and use a calm, methodical approach to the problem.
Don't just react blindly or chuck away all your hard work and try something completely different unless a thorough, calm and careful investigation convinces you that you are completely off-beam.
Calmly analyze your situation and use your intelligence to correct the situation. Sometimes a one degree turn of the wheel is all that is required to get back on course, not a completely new rudder.
Rule 11 - Have a vision, be demanding
This rule goes hand in hand with rules 4 and 5. In order to set goals and plan ways to achieve them you must first set your vision. Think big, be brave. There is nothing you can't achieve so make sure your efforts are going to be for something truly worthwhile.
Rule 12 - Don't take counsel of your fears or naysayers
All of us have moments of self-doubt or even fear when embarking on a journey to an unknown destination. If what you have planned for yourself brings with it feelings of anxiety, nervousness, even fear, pay attention to them but don't take their counsel.
They are symptoms of grand thinking, of stretching beyond the boundaries of your comfort zone. As the book says, feel the fear and do it anyway.
Rule 13 - Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier
This rule is closely related to rule 1. Believe that things will work out, that they will look better in the morning, that everything's going to be OK. Repeat the words to yourself as a mantra if you must but instill a spirit of indomitable optimism in your outlook and you will attract success into your life.
Rule 14 - Sometimes being responsible means pissing people off
You can't please all of the people all of the time so don't waste your time or energy even trying. You have a responsibility to the ultimate success of your business and to your own personal success. If that means you occasionally have to say no to people to stay true to your objectives, do it. If it means you have to alienate some people because they don't personally agree with what you are doing, that's their problem.
In other words, stay focused on your plan. If others don't like it or agree with it, too bad.
Rule 15 - You never know what you can get away with unless you try
If you don't ask you don't get. And if you don't take you don't get. Leave nothing on the table. If an opportunity comes along, take it. It may not come again. And remember, in chaos there is opportunity. While everyone else is running around like chooks with their heads cut off, you just bring up the rear and clean up on all the opportunities that are just lying there for the taking among the chicken scratch.
Hindsight truly is 20/20, no doubt about it. Perhaps, like me, you're thinking that if you'd known then what you know now, you would have gone a lot further a lot faster. But as with any form of progress, it's the journey, not the destination, that provides the education and creates the experience and, through it, wisdom. And that's something no book can teach you and money can't buy.
If you have your own website, or are planning to create one soon, in the course of your research you will have read about the importance of publishing an ezine (electronic newsletter) as a way of generating traffic to your site.
-- Note to purists: yes I DO understand there is, strictly speaking, a difference between ezines and electronic newsletters but for our purposes it doesn't matter so don't write me. ;)
It's good advice. By capturing the email addresses of your site visitors (via an ezine sign-up form at your site), you can develop a mailing list to put yourself before time and time again, unless and until they ask to be removed. The idea is that by regularly sending your ezine to your list, your site visitors get to know you and, over time, come to trust you as an expert in your field. Assuming you do competent work, that is.
But ezine publishing can be a lot more than just a traffic generation tool - a means to an end. It can be an end unto itself. Your ezine can actually be a business in its own right.
How can an ezine be a paying proposition in itself? There are two ways - by accepting paid advertising and charging for subscription.
=> Advertising
When I started my ezine way back when in July 1999, I was just following conventional wisdom. I had created a web site by the same name and wanted to publish an ezine as a way of staying in touch with site visitors and reminding them to visit my site.
What ended up happening, though, is that the ezine became the central plank of my business and the website became secondary. Why? Well, first of all, I found that I actually enjoyed it. I enjoyed writing articles and I enjoyed the fact that other people actually got some benefit from my labors. But, beyond that, once I had amassed a subscriber database of 1,000 or so, people started asking me what my advertising rates were. I didn't have any. I had never really thought of my ezine as being a revenue generator in and of itself. The most I was hoping for was to remind readers to visit my site in the hope that, while there, they would place an order for one of the affiliate programs I promoted thereby earning me a commission. Of course, I was also running ads for my own affiliate programs in the ezine which translated into income via commissions but, again, the ezine was a means to an end, not an end unto itself.
When advertisers started approaching me, however, I soon changed my thinking and my focus and before long, I had on average ten to twelve advertisers wanting to run ads in my ezine, every single week.
So, quite quickly, accepting paid advertising in my ezine became a primary revenue source, certainly way ahead of anything else that was generating revenue for me at the time from my website.
Things have changed considerably for all ezine publishers from those heady days where ezine advertising was all the rage and demand for ezine advertising space outstripped supply. No longer do I publish a dozen ads in each issue. Now it's only five or so but paid advertising remains an important element of my business plan and it is still a very viable revenue generation model for you to use in your online business.
=> Paid Subscriptions
Just as ezine advertising has slowed down, paid subscription ezines are emerging as the next hot trend. More and more, the concept of free content on the Internet is giving way to user pays and ezine publishing is no exception with ezine publishers beginning to charge for subscription to their ezines in lieu of (or in addition to) running paid ads.
For those who (for some reason) believe that everything on the Internet should be free (as long as they're not the ones who have to do the work for nothing, of course), this is, on a superficial level, probably bad news. But on the other hand, when someone is paying for content, it had better be worth it. So the upside is that subscribers to paid ezines are more likely to be getting (and will demand) better quality content than they are used to from the typical "free" ezine. In other words, you get what you pay for.
So what does all this mean for you, the would-be Internet entrepreneur? Quite simply, if you're an expert in anything (and we all are) you can turn that knowledge into the foundation of an online business by publishing an ezine on that subject, including your own original articles on a regular basis (don't bother just regurgitating someone else's - if you're publishing them, so are others and the object of the exericse is to make an original contribution) and either accepting paid advertising or charging subscribers a subscription fee.
All right then, how do I start an ezine?, I hear you say.
=> Come Up With a Great Idea
Don't waste your time (or everyone else's) publishing yet another Internet marketing ezine. How many ways are there to say the same thing? They're a dime a dozen and worth even less. Do the hard work of coming up with something that's original and fresh, something that every man and his dog isn't already doing. It doesn't matter how specialized the subject matter - the Internet audience is vast - you will attract your share of it. In fact, the more targeted your audience the better. Far, far better to have 500 devoted readers than 5,000 who may or may not even open, let alone read, your ezine.
(And don't believe the naysayers who will try and convince you that because there are already so many ezines being published there is no room for you. There is ALWAYS room for quality original content and there always will be.)
=> Write a Few Articles
Before you publish your first issue, write a few articles about your chosen subject and submit them, together with a resource box that includes a way for people to subscribe to your new ezine. This is just to drum up interest so that you actually have a few subscribers to send your first issue to.
What do I mean by "submitting" your articles? There are many ezine publishers and webmasters looking for fresh, quality content for their ezines and web sites that they don't want to have to create for themselves.
In response to this demand, a number of services and web sites have sprung up to collect content contributions from people like you and make it available to people like them.
Here's a list of article submission points to get you started:
=> Announcement Lists
Yahoo Groups (submit from the Yahoo Groups website at http://groups.yahoo.com/ - you'll need to subscribe to these groups first):
Then, when you have a few subscribers, you're ready to publish your first issue. Be ready to roll it out pretty quickly after you submit your articles so you are still fresh in the mind of your readers.
For assistance with the nuts and bolts of actually creating your ezine (including what should go where and why) and sending it out, visit the excellent resource Ezine University at http://www.ezineuniversity.com .
=> Generating Subscribers
Once your ezine is a reality, you can "announce" it to the world at large. Here's a list of ezine announcement lists and directories to get you started:
Before being able to submit your newsletter to these lists you'll need to subscribe first. Just go to Yahoo (http://www.groups.yahoo.com) or Topica (http://www.topica.com) to sign up for the lists you want to be able to submit to. (Onelist and Egroups are now under Yahoo):
You'll find other sites and announcement lists to add to these lists as you go on. This is just to give you a starting point.
Of course, just because you've created an ezine that's a paying proposition (i.e., profitable) doesn't mean you have to stop there. You can still create a website and use that to generate revenue in addition to your ezine. In fact, a combination of the two is the best way to go - multiple streams of income are key to the financial stability and security of your online business.
The 12th most visited site on the Internet is the online auction site eBay.com. I have discovered a simple way to profit from that HUGE volume of traffic. There are 41 million members & 1.5 Billion page views per month on eBay. I am taking full advantage of that traffic. I promise you have never been exposed to ideas like these. I'll explain my "Silent Sales Machine" concept on the next page ...
Here are the facts:
Silent Sales Machines on eBay are free to start. They run with little or no maintenance.
You could literally be making money from these ideas 30 minutes from now.
They are legal, are ethical, are EVERYWHERE waiting for someone to "turn them on", they don't violate any eBay policies, and they are perpetual (they don't quit).
You can easily make money on eBay auctions that don't get ANY bids.
They can be "turned on" in less than 30 minutes in some cases, and are not MLM (but you could really use this idea to explode any MLM or Network Marketing program).
With very little effort you can earn cash from the efforts of others on eBay - and they'll thank you for it
know what you’re thinking. Oh, no, one more person that’s going to tell me where to put my Google AdSense ads or what color they should be. You’re only partly right. I AM going to do a quick recap of the most recommended – and proven – ways to bring more money into your business through Google AdSense. Then I’m going to tell you how to use that money – and what you learn from earning it – to help shape your business to profit even more.
The Top Three ‘Increase your AdSense profits’ Tips
Target higher paying keywords.
Increase your click-through rate.
Increase your site traffic.
There are three factors that determine your AdSense profits – how much each click pays off, what percentage of your site visitors click through on those ads and how many people visit your site. Increase any one of the three and you increase your AdSense profits, Increase all three at the same time and your AdSense business will really take off.
The Basic Business Premise That Everyone Forgets
Skim through any webmaster forum with a discussion on maximizing your profits through AdSense and you’ll see a common theme – where can I get it for free? Everyone wants free tools that will help their site outperform all others and start pouring AdSense money into their coffers. What they’re all forgetting is one of the basic premises that every business student learns:
Put the profits back into the business.
Let’s go back to the top three ways to increase your AdSense profits and see how you can use your AdSense money to bring in more AdSense money.
Target higher paying keywords.
Google doesn’t make it easy to find out how much you’re making on specific keywords. In order to figure that out, you’ll need to be watching your own analytics and running cross checks. Which ads are getting clicked on your pages? What keywords are pulling in those ads? What differences do you see when you fine tune your content?
Invest in a good ad tracker to help you keep a handle on which ads are doing well from your site – and then optimize your site for the keywords that pull those ads in. Since Google allows you to use AdSense on multiple sites, use what you learn to develop other sites that capitalize on those higher paying words.
Increase the click through rate.
One way to increase the click through rate is to work on delivering the right traffic to your site. This may mean investing in a little advertising of your own. Research your site analytics to follow site visitors from the referring link all the way through where they leave your site and watch for trends, then target your own advertising to capitalize on those trends by placing ads on sites that send you traffic that clicks through.
Increase your site traffic.
Obviously, the more people that visit your pages, the more chance there is that some of them will click through on some of the AdSense ads on your pages. You can buy traffic – but that’s seldom the best solution. Instead, invest in a strategic combination of advertising your site on relevant sites and providing excellent content to keep visitors coming back to your site.
This instructable will show you how to build a 100% free website (including free domain name, and free email addresses) with virtually no computer knowledge. Hopefully, you can turn in a profit too! However, this is not a get rich quick method: building up content and traffic for a website takes time and sustained effort. If you follow these suggestions, you will make some money; just how much depends on how hard you are prepared to work at it, and how popular your initial idea is.
I have built two websites using this method, which I will be using as examples: The first website ( condition yellow ) generates approx. 20,000 views a month, and these have been increasing gradually since it was launched under its current format on May 16 2007. I have just started promoting the latest one ( lock yourself to a tree ). To date, they have brought up just under $6,000 in revenue, from advertising and pay-per-view schemes. You can check the websites out for yourself, they offer an example of what can be done:
I'm not going to make any false promises: this has been hard work. But I have done it in my spare time, through trial and error, and I have also enjoyed the process. Should you decide to give it a go, you can benefit from my findings, but also from my mistakes, which will shorten the process.
Finally, this instructable also has its own site, at 100percentfeesite , on which you will find many additional tips and updates. If you are serious about building your own 100 percent free website, bookmark it and follow the step-by-step method it suggests. Of course, this is also 100 percent free!
One last thing: if you like this instructable, please digg it, using the digg button underneath. A lot of time, effort, and thought went into it.
step 1Figures - advertising strategy - what you will need
FIGURES The idea for both my sites was to generate a profit from advertising. I chose to do that through three methods: online videos, google adsense, and smaller schemes such as amazon.com affiliates. Each of these will be discussed later on in this instructable.
Here's a summary of my earnings from the three methods: Online videos: metacafe.com - $5,330.11 revver.com - $317.16 Google Adsense: $17.54 Amazon affiliates: $0
ADVERTISING STRATEGY: Your advertising startegy will essentially be dictated by the main focus of your website. But mainly, your earnings will either be generated by advertising and referrals, or through product sales (in which case, it is your site that needs to be advertised).
Let's take lockyourselftoatree.com as an example first. Most of the revenue from this site was generated by the videos it features. The site hopes to cash in on the success of the first video, to generate views (and clicks) for user-submitted videos (from which I will derive a profit through revver's sharers programme). Targetted ads, and amazon referrals supplement that income.
If product sales is your main focus however, then you will probably have very different priorities for your site - generating targetted traffic being the main one. Adsense and referals will not be particularly useful (adsense could even be detrimental, by sending customers to the competition!). Online videos could prove very effective at raising your site's profile however.
Finally, if your site is centered around a forum, or if it is a blog which does not feature your own material, then advertising and referrals will be your main source of revenue.
I have altogether stayed cleared of Adwords (search words you can purchase from Google - another form of advertising), as my main aim was not to spend any money on building my sites.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED: Very little actually. - A computer and an internet connection are the main thing. - If you plan to make online videos, a simple digital camera can be enough. Or a camcorder. Or even, a simple webcam. You can also quite easily find some free editing software. - Last, but far from least: a few good ideas
step 2Setting up the site
There are a variety of free site providers out there that offer different packages. None of them, however, were satisfactory by themselves for my purposes.
Here's what I wanted: - a free domain name (I wanted to have email addresses in my domain name) - free site hosting - the ability to use html code in order to set up adsense and other referral packages.
Bandwitdth on the other hand was never an issue for me, as both my sites were mostly to feature videos hosted elsewhere, which I subsquently would embed on my pages.
I decided to build my websites around a combination of two sites, to get around the limitations of the free schemes I found. For instance, Microsoft Office Live Basics offered a free domain name (which you can still purchase at a later date if you want), but did not offer the opportunity to use HTML, third-party design tools, or to upload an existing site). This meant I could not use adsense.
On the other hand, blogs such as Blogger were perhaps rather limited in their customizability, but they also were particularly appealing because of their ease of use (in particular, setting up adsense on blogger could not be easier).
The simple answer, to overcome these limitations, was to use Microsoft Office Live Basics for my front page, and to link from there to Blogger, where I could use bits of HTML.
The one drawback of this method however, is that I cannot get any reliable traffic statistics. Users might bookmark either the front page, or the main page, and thus it is hard to know where they are coming to the site from. It is also hard to tell in exactly what manner they navigate the site. Also, the site is less likely to feature in the alexa rankings because -in the case of condition yellow- it is made of one front page and 6 or 7 different blogs plus a forum, none of which are registered under the same domain name. This was a limitation I was prepared to live with however: should either site ever become very popular, I could always re-purchase the domain name from Microsoft Office Live Basics, and host it in a unified form.
step 3Building up content
Building up content, in the case of lockyourselftoatree.com was very straight forward. The site relies on the success of an online video I had made some time ago, in order to invite user submissions. It has not been widely advertised yet (I plan to do that through a couple of related videos, and a compilation video), but you can see how simple it is: under its current format, it only consists of two pages. People submitting their Revver videos to the site will benefit from its traffic, and be able to make money through Revver's ad-click programme. Revver also has a sharers' programme whereby, by sharing these videos on my site I will make 20% of the videos' profits (40% go to the producer; 20% to the sharer; 40% to Revver).
Building up content for condition-yellow.com was much more time consumming. Fortunately I had a bunch of videos I had made, and some training programmes, and this was going to be the backbone of the site. Once I had a site outline, I filled in the gaps here and there (there are still many), added some forums (which haven't proved popular so far!), and a blog. Most of the site's profits are generated by videos that are my own, so in that sense, it is a much bigger earner than lockyourselftoatree.com . The idea behind the blog and the forums, is that, by being updated frequently, they will keep users coming back daily to see what's new. However, the site's focus is not very tight, which I suspect is hampering its popularity...
Quality content and regular updates are what will keep users coming back, so this should probably be your main focus in the initial stages... It also has to be fairly original: a blog featuring the best of the net is unlikely to ever become popular, as it is facing so much competition...
step 4Setting up advertising
The main schemes I chose to opt into were online videos, google adsense, and smaller affiliates schemes such as the one run by amazon.com
- Online videos have been by far the biggest source of revenue for me: some websites offer pay-per-view or pay-per-click opportunities, while others may just buy your videos if they like them. Online videos can also generate a big percentage of the traffic to your site ; they will be discussed later on in this instructable, as they offer such tremendous opportunities for revenue and traffic.
- Google adsense is another -much smaller- source of revenue. In my experience, adsense pays around $6 for 10,000 page impressions (everytime someone opens a page featuring one of your adsense banners). There are 3 main ways in which adsense can be optimized however: 1. barring some of the ads it offers might help. Not all ads pay the same, and you should probably try to focus on the higher revenue ones. 2. Ads placement is also crucial: ads have to be prominent, but not intrusive. Placing and ad on top of your webpage might get this ad a lot of exposure, but it will also make the page less attractive to your site visitors... Generally, try to place your ads on the side. 3. The colour palette you choose might also be important: again, ads have to stand out if people are going to click on them.
Google Adsense offers you the possibility of keeping track of how well each of your invidual ads are doing, by setting custom channels. It is well worth experimenting with this, to come up with the optimal set up for your site. Adsense also offers a number of extra services from which you can generate income: referrals to google products such as adsense itself, adwords, the google toolbar, and google software. Adsense also allows you to set a search box on your site, and pays per click on the results displayed.
You might have much more success than I did with adsense by looking into these ways more closely. Adsense not being my main focus, I only use it as a little supplementary income. You can sign up for it by using the link at the very bottom of this page , which will let me benefit from your referral (it does not change anything for you)
- Finally, a variety of sites (such as amazon.com) offer affiliates schemes, whereby you can earn a percentage by refering buyers to their products. This was an obvious choice for me with lockyourselftoatree.com, as the technique the site centres around is described in a couple of books sold on amazon. I have not had much luck with this so far, but it is hardly surprising, this being such a niche market... Should your website review a variety of electronic goods for instance, amazon.com's affiliates scheme could turn out to be very profitable.
step 5Online videos
WEBHOSTS: There is a variety of sites out there which will host your videos for free. I have dedicated a whole page to them in this instructable, because this method has been such a successful little money earner for me.
First of all, well, the industry's giant is obviously youtube . Youtube will not pay for your videos, but if all you want is to generate views for your site, then it is the definite option. Simply feature your site's address prominently in the video, and visitors will often follow. Of course, your video will have to be eye-catching in order to do well on youtube.
break is another site which will generate many views for your videos (possibly even more than youtube , even). However, things are a little more complicated here: break will also pay you $400 for your videos (if they select them, of course), provided they feature original, non-copyrighted content, but provided also that there are no URLs displayed in the videos. Thus, if you have a very good video which you think could earn money on break , do not include a link to your site. However, for the purpose of generating traffic, break also works very well, and it is an option not to be dismissed.
If you want to earn money from your vids AND generate traffic to your site, then metacafe is your best option. metacafe pays $100 once your videos passes 20,000 views. However, if it does not make it that far, you get nothing... The good thing about metacafe though, is that their front page release system means that a lot of people will view your videos if they are good.
Finally, there are two other main sites that will pay for your videos, based on the number of clicks on adverts displayed within your clips: these are revver , and blip.tv . In my experience, revver works better, as the ads it feature simply seem to be more attractive to the viewers. However, the problem with both revver and blip.tv , is that they will not generate views by themselves. You will need to get your videos embeded on blogs and other sites in order to get views. Here are a few places to get you started however:
tech/howto videos - Gizmodo - techeblog - engadget - newlaunches - hack a day - lifehacker - instructables
funny videos: - stumbleupon - crazy party - bad videos
photography: - diy photography
magic tricks: - learnmagictricks.org
Finally, you can also distribut your videos via myspace, facebook, etc... and hope they will spread virally (which they will, if they are good enough.)
Of course, you should embed all your videos on your website, since they will also gain more views there.
For a step-by-step method of how to take best advantage of the possibilities these sites offer, visit my page on 100percentfreesite .
WHAT YOU WILL NEED: Again, in order to keep this instructable short, I'm going to focus on the basics here. You can find more info on 100percentfreesite . First of all, here's what you will need: - a digital camera/camcorder/webcam - some free software (I'm going to focus on windows users here, as I am not familiar with Macs)
Windows Movie Maker (comes free with Windows service pack 2)
RAD video tools ; will allow to convert avi files to wmv format
autoscreenrecorder : a screen recorder that will still enable you to make desktop videos, even if you don't own a camera. Useful for software howto videos.
Also, if you intend to use music in your videos, make sure not to use copyrighted music, as pay video sites will only allow original content. You can make your own music, using easy music composer , or you could purchase some royalty free music for as little as $7 per song. Stock20 is a good site for this. use this link: stock20 , and you will get your first song for free.
HOW TO MAKE A SUCCESSFUL VIDEO: For the sake of simplicity, I am going to use two of my videos as examples, detailing what makes them good, and not so good. First of all, here is my most successful video:
The main reasons for its success can easily be emulated. They are: - the title and subject-matter are eye-catching (who hasn't wondered, at some point or other, how this trick was done?) - the video is relatively short (generally, try to keep all your videos under 2 minutes, or you will loose the viewers attention. - it combines narration and music to keep things interesting. - the address to my webpage is prominently displayed. - a logo is displayed - it does exactly what it promises.
Now here's an example of a video that was not so successful:
Here are it's main faults: - no url is displayed (how are people going to visit my site?) - the title is boring - origami is not terribly sexy - the picture quality is a bit iffy - Though it is not terribly long, it feels like it is. - no narration - the songs -though I do like them- are not very modern - the punch line is spoiled by an explanation of how to make the boat (was it necessary? who doesn't know how to make a paper boat anyway?)
It may well be worthwhile, for an apiring videomaker, to take a look at the condition-yellow , to see which videos have been successful, and which haven't... Also -again- you will find a more in-depth study of how to make profit generating videos on 100percentfreesite .
step 6Building up traffic to your free site.
Building up traffic to your free site can actually be pretty straight forward: if the site is appealing enough and based on an original idea, you will have very little to do: it will most likely spread virally if people like it. Nonetheless, it will need that initial push.
I relied on a variety of methods to build up traffic to my sites. These were: - including my site's URL in all my videos... This has brought a fair number of visitors. - linking to my site in various forums. Careful here: do not spam... people hate spammers! Find relevant threads, and make a relevant post, linking to your site's relevant page. A good forum to start with, if your site is based around your original videos is rotten tomatoes. - write to other sites, and ask them to link to yours. The more links you can build, the more traffic you will get. - write to your friends, and ask them to share your site (or your popular videos) via email, facebook... etc. - build a list of contacts yourself, and consider making a regular newsletter to keep people updated. - Finally, register for a viral traffic scheme. I found that free viral was probably the best of these. This could potentially bring A LOT of traffic to your site... and it's effortless.
If you have all these ingredients, traffic will build up, and money will follow.
step 7Customizing your site to meet your own needs...
Here are a few thoughts on adapting this method to meet your own needs:
1. decide what your site's main focus is going to be. This should be fairly unique and original. 2. choose an eyecatching, easy to remember domain name. 3. design a site logo... use photoshop. This will establish your 'brand' image. Take a look at the condition yellow logo underneath. 4. ascertain where your site's revenue is going to come from. If it is online videos, spend your energy establishing your 'brand' with the main video sites. Become a household name. If you choose adsense, learn to use all its features... Use the custom channels function to establish which ads work best. 5. decide what your main source of revenue is going to be... If, for instance, you do not intend to use Adsense, then there is no need to design a site in Blogger. Your entire site can be built in Microsoft Office Live Basics. 6. If your main aim is to sell a product -this could be ebooks, for instance- use online videos to generate interest. Here's an example how this could be done: Suppose, for instance, your site is selling ebooks offering tips about msn or yahoo messenger. The following video could be posted on all the major video sites (youtube, break, metacafe, yahoo videos).
Simply add a prominent title at the end of the video, saying: "want to learn more messenger tricks? Visit: http://YOURSITEHERE.com " 7. consider adding a forum... This is a good way to keep viewers coming to your site if it is popular. easy free forum is just one of the many sites that will let you do this. I chose it for it's ease of use. 8. build up your site gradually... You do not have to do everything at once. Eventually, you will establish a regular visitors base. 9. If your site features mostly videos, encourage viewers submissions via Revver. You can earn 20% from their videos revenue via Revver's sharers scheme. 10. This is stating the obvious, but make sure your site deals with a subject you trully enjoy. Your enthusiasm will shine through ; you are more likely to keep working at it ; content will be of a better quality (presumably, you will be knowledgeable about it) ; and eventually more and more people sharing a similar interest will come back to it and contribute.
I hope some of you will have been inspired by this instructable... It has its own site, at 100percentfeesite , on which you will find many additional tips and updates. In addition, you will also find a step-by-step method to building your site, 100 percent free!
One last thing: if you like this instructable, please digg it, using the digg button underneath. A lot of time, effort, and thought went into it.
You don't have to have your own Web site, or install blogging software, or even figure out how to set up the advertising. At Blogger you can set up a blog for free in less than five minutes without knowing a thing about web design, and Blogger even automates setting up Google AdSense so you can make money off your blog by displaying ads and getting paid when people click on the ads. To make even more money from it, set up an affiliate program (see below) for books, music, etc., and insert your affiliate links whenever you refer to those items. You'll have to get a lot of traffic to become a six-figure blogger, but pick an interesting topic, write well, tell all your friends, and you're off to a good start.
source from http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/homebasedbusiness/a/makemoneyonline.htm
