How To Make Money On The Internet! Or How Not

May 4th, 2010 - 
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How To Make Money On The Internet! Or How Not To!

Well if you are reading this article then that means you really
want to make money online!

But I bet your totally confused and dont know whats real anymore?

And your probably kind of sick of all seeing the same things and over and over again, and not knowing if they work. You probably hear positive things and negative things about every program out there. I know I do!

Seriously if I see one more web page or add about selling on ebay or filling out surveys im going to go crazy.

Ive been on the internet now for along time, Ive gone in circles and tried everything there is to make money. After all things are said and done, the main thing I realized is, if someone is trying to sell you the information for a dollar amount $ (whatever it may be) without giving you even the slightest idea of what you are buying, then DONT BUY IT!

You will end up getting the same thing you probably bought 3 times already.

I think it is pointless for a business to try and sell something to a customer, but yet only tell you You will make money! umm ya how?

I mean thats like going into a shoe store and the sales person saying Buy these shoes, they will help you walk, but you cant see them until you give me the money!

WOULD YOU BUY THE SHOES?

The best plan for any business that I can give advice to, is come up with a business plan where you tell the customer what their doing and how its done, but only hold back say: the name of the company you need to buy the products from or whatever it may be.

There are a few sites out there that are actually worth your time and will offer you free information. These sites are often ignored because they are free, and for some reason today in society people seem to think if something is free then it is of no value! Thats actually the farthest thing from the truth. The best things in life are free, (we all know this).

I am going to go over a few things that repeatedly show up on the internet again and again, trying to make you buy their information, only to find out that you will make less money doing what they suggest, than what you paid for it!

1. Selling on Auction sites or Buying wholesale lists.(Drop shipping)

Ok selling on auction sites can be a means to earn money, but it depends on what youre selling. If you own a brick and mortar store (a real live store) it can be a way to add to your revenue and sell extra things on the side. But selling of the internet (droppshiped item) or buying wholesale items, is usually a complete waste of time. Think about how many people those wholesale lists are available to, and how many people are going to be competing with you to sell that same item. This in turn leaves you with very little profit. Not to mention that almost all wholesale lists online are out of date and most of the time the items are not even actually whole sale priced. Plus you must pay the listing fee for your item, the final sale value %, and then other fees for processing payments! In the end you really only made like $3 and hour. Is that worth your time?

Im not saying every product is like that, there are a few niche items (if you can find them) that might sell well and have a good conversion for you, but as soon as you find them so will someone else, and on and on the cycle goes!

2. Filling out Surveys.

DONT DO IT!

This has to be the biggest waste of time on the internet today. I personally have never even touched that area. I know allot of people who have though, and it has only led to disappointment. There are so many sites promising you $10 here $40 there to fill out a simple online survey.

Ok so first they want you to pay to find out where the surveys are, and then when you pay them and go to fill out the surveys you find out that to your surprise, you must qualify to fill out the survey. For example: You must be between 59 and 510 , weight 62lbs and not eat for three days, you must have black hair and blue eyes and live on the moon! So hmm I guess I dont get the $40?

Or you can fill out 2 hour surveys about what brand of toothpaste you like and you will get paid $2! Need I say more?

3. Online Rebate Processors

This one is kind of new to the online world of offers. There are a few sites (that look very similar!) that offers you a list of people to work for, and promising you $15 a rebate. OK this depends on the price of the rebate, the company you are issuing the rebate for and on and on. As far I know, there is only one company that actually pays that (off the list they give you) and they wont accept any more employees. So unless you want to spend $40 to get the list and then make about $1 a rebate, dont waste your time.

4. Billing processor, medical billing specialist or transcriptionist.

All I have to say about this one is if you are interests make sure you look for work through a local business that you can actually talk to and call. Or you will end up working for some random office in Malaysia or some foreign country getting paid .12 cents an hour.

5. Paid to surf

There are many, many sites out there promising you money to surf the net or read emails. Thats because they are trying to get you to sign up for their programs. You get paid like .1 cent an email and a few cents a web page as long as youre at the web page for at least 30 to 60 seconds. That’s a total waste of time.

6. Getting a free website to sell other peoples things!

Ok this will make you a few buck here and there, but the amount it costs to advertise, and then the small % you get back in return isnt really worth it. Really you are just making money for the person above you and they are giving you a very small % of what they make. Also there is so much competition in this market that you have to find a very small niche with very specific products that are not so over marketed.

7. Forex (trading currencies)

Is actually one of the best ways to make money online, if you practice a little and know what youre doing. The reason some people over look this is because there is a work involved and you need to learn the system. Its not a get rich quick scheme, but it is a get rich long term scheme.

Forex is : The currency trading (FOREX) market is the biggest and fastest growing market on earth. Its daily turnover is more than 2.5 trillion dollars. The participants in this market are banks, organizations, investors and private individuals, just like you.

8. The EASY FREE INCOME SYSTEM

This is a hard to explain system, but I have used it for over a year and its worked for me this long. The reason I think its a good system in the first place is because of exactly what I said earlier, you dont have to pay a single cent to get all the information there is to get about the system. People make a great living off of it and its totally free. You get a free ebook to read it all over, and it doesnt involve anything I have mentioned above. No marketing, no forms, no calling, no selling or buying, no emailing, no nothing really! And when somethings free and promises to make you a good income, I always check it out. I mean what can it hurt, its free? You can get a free copy for yourself at www.easyfreeincome.com

Its something I enjoy, its fun and I make really good money from it. Its not hard to do and you get all the info for free, which is a huge bonus from my point of view or anyone that is trying to find a good income earner but dont want to pay before they know what it is!

So that is my opinion on the latest online money makers! I cant speak for everyone, but I have extensively tested or know someone who has tested, all the methods above.

I hate to see people waste their time, because there are so many things out there that are a huge time waster.

I have been online now for along time, and have tested program after program, I wrote this article to share my ventures and to try to give some advice, whoever it may help, so that people who are new to the online industry of making money might have some direction on where to go or what to try and not try.

I will continue to write articles on all new money making methods I try, until then good luck and I hope you benefit from this advice.

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How to Make Money

How To Make Money On Ebay

April 30th, 2010 - 
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The auction website eBay is an ideal outlet for those who are looking to buy just about anything, and for those who are looking to sell just about anything. Selling items on eBay is a great way to earn extra money, unload some old things from around your house, or to start a home-based business for yourself. Using eBay can become quite a profitable venture, and you can do it all from your own home. All it takes is some merchandise, a little background information, and some determination for you to make money on eBay.

You know that saying, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure?” Well, that adage has never applied to something better than it does to eBay. If you have a lot of old and unused items lying around your house or cluttering up your garage, clean them up, and sell them on eBay! You can begin to make money on eBay right now! It’s so easy to start an auction on eBay.

First, make sure the item is not damaged and that they are cleaned up and operational. Then, you will want to take a few good photographs that you can use on the site to showcase the item. You might also want to do a little background research on the item, so that you can write a really thorough description, as well as be able to answer any questions that a bidder might have about it. Once you have all of the information about the particular item you want to sell, post it (along with the photographs) on eBay. Then, decide on your opening bid price.

The opening bid price is an important step in the process. Either you can start at a really low bid in order to see lots of action, or you can start with a minimum bid that you will accept. If you start with the lowest possible bid, though, you might be risking taking a lower price overall for the item than you might want, as well as have to pay eBay listing fees. So, really think about your opening price.

If you do start out with the higher minimum bid, it might take a while for your item to catch on. Don’t worry, though, because it only takes a few people to be interested in an item to have an auction. If you have prepared well, presented your item in the best possible way, and opened with a fair bid price, you will begin to make money on eBay in no time.

Once you have sold all of your own items, you might find that making money on eBay was pretty easy, and you want to keep doing it. So, what should you sell? The first thing to do is to think of things that you would be interested in selling, things that you have knowledge about. Maybe you are crafty, or you can sew, and you can produce interesting and quality products to sell on your own. If you do this, you know what you are selling, and you can answer any questions that bidders might have about the merchandise. If you can’t produce your own items to sell on eBay, you can try purchasing new items through a wholesaler, or you can scour yard and garage sales on the weekends in search of unique or interesting items.

It is easy to make money on eBay when you are selling something that you are interested in and have knowledge about. However, it is important to remember that, as a seller, it is your responsibility to be professional, courteous, and timely with all of your buyers and their transactions. Negative ratings can put an end to your eBay career as quickly as you started it. If you are conscientious and polite as a seller, though, you will earn a good reputation among eBay buyers, and people will return repeatedly to bid on your items. In addition, word of mouth is the best advertising you could ask for. Selling items is a great way to have a home-based business and make money on eBay!

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How To Make Money From Internet Auctions

April 4th, 2010 - 
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If your business is not using eBay and other Internet auctions, you could be missing out. Here are just a few ways of generating additional income, profits and cashflow from online auctions.

1. Convert Excess Assets to Cash

Sell personal or business items that you no longer use. For example, are there slow moving inventory
items in your store? A major camera store chain sells their slow movers, quite successfully, through eBay.

2. Buy and Sell Anything

Sometimes people put things out in the garbage because they don`t need them anymore and don`t know anyone who could use them. You can successfully sell some of these items by Internet auction.

As well, if you pick up bargains from garage sales, flea markets, importers, wholesalers, closeout dealers or other sources, these items can also be sold through online auctions.

3. Drop Shipping

There are suppliers who will ship one item at a time for you. You don`t have to stock any inventory. You simply pay your dropship supplier out of the money you receive from your auction sale. They will ship the product directly to your customer.

4. Self-Publishing

Do you have expertise in a specialized area of interest to people? Then, you could publish your own information product.

A very popular format for self-publishing information products is the electronic book (or e-book). E-book compilers, some of which are free, are readily available on the Internet. When people buy your e-book, they can download it from your website or receive it by e-mail.

You could sell such self-published information products on eBay and other Internet auction sites.
Incidentally, online auctions are an inexpensive method of testing the market for your information (or other) products.

5. Reprint and Resale Rights

You may not want to produce your own information products presently. Or, perhaps, you may already
have an information product, but would like to supplement your income with additional, related product offerings. This is where reprint and resale rights come in.

You can buy the rights to reprint or resell excellent information products created by other people. Some of these rights are inexpensive.

In addition to selling these products from your own website, you can use Internet auctions to create extra sales. Another advantage of online auctions is that they can create additional traffic for your website.

6. Sell Your Services

Do you design logos or websites? Do you sell consulting or other services? These, also, can be successfully sold through eBay and other auction sites.

7. Run an eBay Consignment Shop

There are still people who don`t have a computer or who don`t use eBay. You could sell on a consignment basis for them, taking a commission on the successful sale. You would need to charge for advertising expenses incurred, such as eBay listing and selling fees.

8. Promote Affiliate Programs through Auctions

Some affiliate programs have brandable e-books that contain your affiliate link. When people order from the e-book that they bought from your online auction, you get credit for the sale. As well, some of those purchasers may sign up as affiliates, earning you additional commissions.

Some of these e-books have valuable information that is worth the nominal value you would sell it for on eBay. In other cases, such an e-book is readily available for free. In this latter case, you might consider selling another related product and offer the e-book as a free bonus.

9. Supply Fellow Online Auctioneers

During the gold rush days, it is said that those who sold picks and shovels were more likely to make money than those panning for gold. Similarly, since there is such a big market for online auctions, you can make money supplying eBayers with information and auction tools to help them start and grow their own online auction business.

10. Internet Auction Consulting

As you gain experience and expertise in online auctions, you might consider charging for your knowledge.

Consulting services, seminars, information products and other ways of packaging your knowledge can earn you additional income streams.

These are just a few of the ways you can profit from Internet auctions.

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How to Make Money from Affiliate Ebooks without Selling them.

March 20th, 2010 - 
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How to Make Money from Affiliate Ebooks without Selling them.

The standard way to make money from Ebooks is to sell them to our website visitors and our mailing list.

But what if we dont have many website visitors, and dont have a huge mailing list?

How do we sell them? And is selling the Ebook the only way to make money out of them?

This series of articles will be in three parts:

Part one: How to make money from Affiliate Ebooks without selling them.

Part two: How to use Ebooks and Ebay to build your mailing list.

Part three: How to use Ebooks to drive more visitors to your site.

First, lets look at some other ways to make money from Ebooks.

One way is to give them away! But how does that make money for me? You may ask!

Lets say we have an Ebook that we acquired from someone else and we have full re-sale rights.

Inside this Ebook there are usually one or two, (maybe more) active links to the affiliate program that we got the Ebook from.

These links will be traceable links to either the affiliate that sold or gave us the Ebook or the owner of the Affiliate program.

Now if we click on one of those links and go to the affiliate program, find something we need and buy it! Who gets the commission for the sale?

The person that gave/sold us the Ebook!

Now we can just sell the Ebook and make a few dollars, but if we want more money we have to sell more Ebooks, right? The answer is yes and no.

Lets look at us selling more Ebooks first, we sell more and make a little bit more money, those Ebooks are going to go out to more people, which might click on the link in it, when they do, who gets the commission on any sales? The answer is the affiliate who gave/sold us the Ebook.

Its plain to see who is leveraging and earning more money for less effort isnt it?

So what we do is become an affiliate! Then go about the business of giving our Ebook away to as many people as possible, who will then try to sell it to others, who will in turn do the same, etc so this way WE are the ones using leverage, and making more money!

But wait a minute! Why would anyone want to do that for us, wouldnt they think like us and become an affiliate? The answer is YES! Thats the idea!

Now, they join as an affiliate through us, and put their affiliate URL in the Ebook and then they promoted as vigorously as we did! This is the ultimate goal for us! BECAUSE, they joined the affiliate program through us, they are now a second tier in our affiliate account.

So now, not only do we get a large percentage in commission from anyone that buys something through our affiliate link in the Ebooks we promote, but we also get a small percentage for any sales generated by our second tier!

This can go on and on depending on the particular affiliate program, but its plain to see the viral effect this would have on our affiliate link.

Many people will be willing to add our Ebook to their emailing list as a way of adding value to their customers, if its free then why not! This will send our links all over the planet, along with the steps outlined above.

This is one way that Ebooks can be used to make money, there are many, many other ways, so we should always think about other ways and means to leverage our efforts this is the secret to successful marketing.

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How To Make Extra Money Online By Getting Rid Of

February 18th, 2010 - 
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How To Make Extra Money Online By Getting Rid Of The Junk You’ve Accumulated Over The Years.

Have you ever considered the aspect to sell online and make money? Well maybe this is the most appropriate opportunity for you to engage in this kind of profitable activity. Apparently, you can now sell even the oldest junk you have hidden in your antique box. With the use of a few clicks and good marketing approach, you can definitely sell your entire collection of loose items over cyberspace

So how can I start squeezing money out of the internet? Practically, if you have items, old or used, you can sell them to people who might be interested. And the good thing about doing this is you can sell online and make money.

There are a lot of trade websites where you can register to sell your items. For example, you can use eBay.com. This website provides you with a free portal that you can access upon registration. Their easy to use system can be your handy tool to effectively advertise whatever items you may have.

If you are thinking of what specific items can be sold on eBay, well you can sell everything and anything. You can sell your old pink rubber shoes, free complimentary key chains from a trip to a museum, your grandfathers shirt, a Volkswagen beetle, or even your dot matrix printer.

Before you sell online and make money on eBay, you should first read the terms and conditions involved upon your registration. This is very important since actual trade is going to happen if your item is going to be sold and purchased by another user. Also, reading the terms and agreements of the website protects you from possible fraud and bad experiences when dealing with other users.

Although eBay is the most efficient way of making money online, you are not restricted to eBay. What if you are a natural born businessman who wants to tap the internet as a business mechanism? Of course, it is possible. You can create your very own online store!

An online store is one of the few other procedures to sell online and make money. Many other companies hold the internet as the most cost effective way to sell their products. But first, you should be able to consolidate all the necessary items and aspects that you will need in setting up an online store. You should have a list of the products to sell, a web portal, a financial instrument and good computer facilities such as servers and internet connection.

When your online store is up and running, you can expect to have various forms of sale transactions. There are some customers who can order online but will need to request for a specific store procedure. Some considerations are delivery of the product, after sales support, payment options and online general inquiries. You should anticipate all these types of concerns beforehand if you are going build your online store.

The experience to sell online is one of the great ways to do business electronically. Because of the relative ease in usage of internet facilities and a wide coverage of global connections, you will be on your way to earn high profits to sustain your daily spending needs.

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Title:

January 30th, 2010 - 
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Title:
How To Learn Internet Marketing and Make Money From Home

Word Count:
336

Summary:
You can make money from home in your spare time by starting an internet marketing business. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Keywords:
internet marketing, home business, online business, affiliate, ebay, adsense

Article Body:
Are you searching for a way to make money from home? Well, if you are at all computer-literate, you should consider an internet-based business.

One of the big advantages of making money with an internet business is that the startup costs required are very small. And it is also something you can start in your spare time, in the evenings or on weekends, while still keeping your day job.

Some of the internet-based businesses you can start may not be as involved as you think.

For example:

1) Sell things on Ebay. A lot of people get started selling things on Ebay that they have around the house and are trying to get rid of. Only after they see how easy this is, they start looking for other things to sell. Soon, they are buying things cheaply and selling them for a profit on Ebay.

2) Create a website and tell about your hobby or interest. How can this make you money? The answer is advertising. Google will pay you money through their Adsense program for running their ads on your website. Every time someone clicks on one of the ads, you make money. And starting a website is easier than ever today, because you can use free blogging software and start blogging with little technical knowledge.

3) Get into affiliate marketing. You point people to the website of a company who is selling a product. Through their affiliate program, the company will pay you a portion of the profits for every product that is sold because of you linking to their website.

These are just a few of the ideas you can use to make money from home on the internet. Just start out with one of these ideas in your spare time, and see where it takes you. Of course, every business takes work and dedication, even an internet business. But the rewards can be tremendous, especially when you look back and see how you have been transformed from a total newbie to an accomplished internet marketer.

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How To Build A Website That Makes Money

January 12th, 2010 - 
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As little as one decade ago an ecommerce site was the domain of techno wizs and coding geniuses. Today the Internet business world is not limited to the technically gifted and motivated. Anyone can build an ecommerce business due to the advent of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors, web building wizards, open source blog and web site platforms, as well as platform like Ebay, Amazon, etc.

A person can build a viable web business without ever understanding how to configure a Mysql database or coding in HTML or PHP. A strong computer background or time needed to learn, is all the skills needed to get started.

Static Pages & Content Management Systems

Static pages are like digital paper. They do not change. They end in .htm, and remain the same until the owner changes the content on them.

A content management system can be as simple as a www.blogger.com or Wordpress blog. Or, it can be a complex $10 000 platform that is powerful enough to run 100 000 pages of content. The objective is to create something for the search engines to send their robots to for ranking and traffic generating.

The content should be designed to create demand, solve problems, and offer solutions. The secondary purpose is to optimize the website increasing the traffic and profit.

What Are You Selling

The Internet does not require a tangible product for sale. There are dozens of things to sell which are not tangible including downloads, education, affiliate and advertising, pre-selling, or social/ entertainment. Creating a site where people can come and share their love for a hobby, venture, belief, or view, can provide a good opportunity for a savvy business owner.

It is possible to sell entertainment. It is possible to sell meeting people. Many Internet businesses have grown to unbelievable levels of success doing just this. Some examples are youtube.com, facebook.com, myspace.com and more.

The first step to building a website is not designing the site. It is deciding what is being sold. Why will people come to the website? What will attract them? What will make visitors stay at the site?

Understanding what is for sale will help the business owner pre-sell the product without continually telling people to buy something. In fact, the most profitable sites are those that do not try to sell anything.

Monetize the Website

The term monetize the website means to create a website that doesnt sell anything. Its sole purpose is to pre sell a product and make money by driving people to websites that do sell something. This is a popular method of income generation as it lets Internet businesses to create multiple streams of income and diversify without needing to invest money into products, merchant accounts, and warehousing or drop shipping.

Shopping Carts

Once the website owner decides what to sell, they need to determine what type of platform. Many new companies stick with paypal.com an ebay company. Other people do not try to do it their own. Instead they take their time and explore their options.

One way is to use prostores.com, ebay.com, or amazon.com to sell their products.

Stay Up To Date

Being behind the times is a quick way to go out of business. Ecommerce companies need to stay up to day. That e-book should be changed into a home study or an e-course. The download should become a video or audio file. The free blog a personalized website. The internet world is evolving. As fast as users become familiar with one form of Internet tool or feature, another is quickly increasing to take its place.

The key to success is remaining educated, reading everything you can, and staying up to date with the web and all the tools it has. What makes money? Something new.

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How Can You Work At Home To Make Money Online

December 4th, 2009 - 
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How Can You Work At Home To Make Money Online

Ever thought starting your internet home based business to start to make money online? One of the best and free way is to start your squidoo lens. Read the article how you could this through squidoo lens

One of the hottest sites to come out of the Web 2.0 phenomenon is Squidoo. If you are not building sites to Squidoo, you are missing one of the quickest and easiest ways to build free traffic for your website or blog to make money online.

Squidoo is a cross between a blog, a mini site, and a My Space page. Squidoo calls the sites “lenses” and the people who produce the sites are called “lensmasters.”

Squidoo lenses are very easy to make, even if you have not ever built a website or blog before. You can have a lens up and running in as little as 15 minutes.

Squidoo lenses are made up of “modules”. Squidoo has dozens of modules to choose from. There are modules for making lists. There are modules for You Tube videos. There are modules for Amazon and Ebay auctions. With a little knowledge of the module system, you can have your lens built in no time.

Squidoo also offers you a chance to make money online from your lens. Squidoo makes its money from affiliate advertising with Google AdSense, Amazon, Ebay and several other sites. They keep track of the earnings of each module and split the profits with you 50-50. You can also donate your profits of your module to charity if you wish.

Squidoo is very lenient about allowing you to use third party advertising on your lens. You can promote your own website if you wish or promote your favorite affiliate product. Savvy network marketers often use Squidoo lenses to promote their products and recruit new reps.

Squidoo lenses often rank very high on Google, so it’s a great chance to build some backlinks to your primary company website and hence increases your website exposure in the internet to make money online.

One of the best ways to use Squidoo to build traffic to your primary blog is by using the RSS feed module. You simply load the RSS feed from your blog and the Squidoo lens will update automatically as you update your blog.

The Amazon module is also very easy to use for people that are new at Squidoo. For the case of Amazon products, you simply enter the ISBN number of the Amazon product and Squidoo will pull it directly off the Amazon website, complete with the photo and the price. You can also have the module pull directly from keywords if you don’t want to take the time to find ISBN numbers on Amazon.

Another great Squidoo module is the Ebay module. With the Ebay module, you can select products by keyword or by seller. If you sell a lot of products yourself on Ebay, this is a great way to get free traffic to your auctions.

As you can tell, Squidoo is a great free and easy way to build traffic and make money online. So get Squidooing!

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How affordable websites can make you money

November 22nd, 2009 - 
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  • Do you have a website that doesn’t bring you any business?
  • Are you worried about investing more money in a website that isn’t performing?

Well here is some good news: affordable websites can make you money!

There’s a myth circulating that you have to invest a fortune to make money through the web. Of course the likes of Amazon and eBay have thrown cash at their websites and are reaping the rewards, but I’m not talking about companies of that size. Budget websites can also generate income with the right approach.

The great thing about doing business online is that you can keep your overheads low. No need for expensive shop fronts, offices, printed brochures or a large workforce. Ideal for the small business without endless capital resources.

It is perfectly possible to do business via the web and make a tidy profit using a modest website on a small budget, providing you follow some basic rules regarding content and structure, and concentrate on converting visitors into sales.

I read a fascinating article last week, by Michael L. McGrath of MLM Celtic Enterprises, which successfully articulated some similar ideas that I have been talking to my clients about recently:

“Every web site has a Most Desired Response, that which the the site owner wants the visitor to do while visiting, and that MDR needs to be identified. The site’s design and content need to be crafted tightly and well around the MDR, identify it with absolute clarity, and remove all obstacles that might prevent a visitor from the response.”

That – in a nutshell – is the key to a successful, profitable website, and it need not cost the earth!

It’s amazing how many start-ups fail to grasp this idea, and then complain that their website fails to bring them any business. Imagine that. If you follow a few basic rules, you can produce websites that actually bring you business.

Concentrate on the following:

  • identifying your Most Desired Response
  • identifying your target audience
  • structuring your site and preparing content, based on your MDR and your target audience.

Identify your site’s Most Desired Response

Rather than thinking about how you would like your site to perform, think about how you would like your customers to behave. There’s a subtle but crucial difference.

More often than not, your MDR will be a visitor buying your product or service. By the way, if you want to take online credit/debit card transactions, you can use PayPal, which is quick and easy to set up. All you need is a bank account to get started.

But your Most Desired Response doesn’t have to involve an online transaction. Very often an MDR will be making a phone call, making contact via email, or simply registering personal or business details.

Be sure of your target audience

Successful small businesses identify and corner niche markets, rather than attempt to take on the world! This is doubly important for online marketing, because you will want to avoid competitive keywords when preparing your content for the search engines.

Structure your site and prepare your content

Once you have established your MDR and identified your Target Market, you can begin to structure your site. The structure and content of your site should serve exclusively to trigger the Most Desired Response from your Target Market. Anything which does not fulfill this criterion is superfluous and should be discarded. Be ruthless about this. Avoid building in gimmicks to your

site, which only serve to distract your visitors from the MDR.

I recommend drawing a flow chart which maps your visitors’ journey beginning with the keywords they enter into Google, and tracking their movement through your site to the holy grail – the Most Desired Response.

When preparing your content, you will need to bear two things in mind. Firstly, it has to comply with the MDR. Avoid superfluous waffle, and make sure everything you say is leading your visitor towards that all important conversion. Secondly, you will need to make sure that your content attracts your target audience to the site in the first place – via the search engines. Start by identifying the right keywords – or more accurately keyphrases – and then ensure that they feature in your content.

In the online world, niche markets take on an even more important role, when you come to choose keywords. The big boys will have the generic keywords sewn up already, and those keywords won’t bring you targeted traffic anyway. If you can concentrate on a specialist or localised market so
much the better. You will stand a far better chance of driving targeted traffic to your site and generating hot leads. Of course you need to make sure that your keywords are not so specialised that none of your potential customers are using them. It’s a fine balancing act. Nichebot offers a useful tool for working out the most productive keywords.

So you see, none of this is going to cost you the earth. A great deal of thinking and research (I never said it was easy!), but not a great deal of money. Quite the reverse: if you follow the rules, you will soon be making money.

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