1. Find a strategic business partner. Look for ones that have the same objective. You
can trade leads, share marketing info, sell package deals, etc.
2. Create a free ebook directory on a specific topic at your web site. People will visit
your web site to read the free ebooks and may see your product ad.
3. Brand your name and business. You can easily do this by just writing articles and
submitting them to e-zines or web sites for republishing.
4. Offer daily or weekly visitor bonuses. This will increase your repeat traffic and sales
because your visitors will visit regularly to get the visitor bonuses.
5. Start an auction on your web site. The type of auction could be related to the theme
of your site. You'll draw traffic from auctioneers and bidders.
6. Allow people to download software or e-books from your web site at no cost. Just
ask your visitors in return if they'll refer their friends to your web site.
7. Remember to take a little time out of your day or week to brainstorm. New ideas are
usually the difference between success and failure.
8. Create multiple streams of income with your web site. You could sell your own products,
join affiliate programs, sell advertising space, etc.
9. Model other successful business or people. I'm not saying out right copy them, but
practice some of the same habits that have made them succeed.
10. Give your visitors compliments in your ad copy. This can earn their trust and put them
in a good mood, in return they will be easier to sell too.
11. Take risks to improve your business. Sometimes businesses don't want to advertise
unless it's free, sometimes you have to spend money to get results.
12. Include emotional words in your advertisements. Use ones like love, security, relief,
freedom, happy, satisfaction, fun, etc.
13. Ask people online to review your web site. You can use the comments you get to
improve your website or you may turn the reviewer into a customer.
14. Out source part of your workload. You'll save on most employee costs. You could out
source your secretarial work, accounting, marketing, etc.
15. Combine a product and service together in a package deal. It could increase your sales. If
you're selling a book, offer an hour of consulting with it.
23 November 2010
Blogging: What it is and why you need one
It is hard not to at least notice the word "blog" or "blogging", with the frequency it seems to pop up in subjects ranging from politics to pornstars. Odds are that you have noticed it unless you have been living in a cave for the last four years. But even with that kind of familiarity of the word, few can say exactly what a blog is.
To understand the blog, first of all a little history is in order. The word "blog" is short for the word "weblog". A weblog is a word coined early in the internet age to designate a journal or diary type page mainly consisting of personal thoughts and reflections. Most of the time it is updated frequently and can range in topic from the mundane to the profound. Sound familiar? It should. What it really is when you get rid of the hype is the good old fashioned diary which has been with us almost as long as language itself.
How long have "blogs" been with us? Well, one of the first instances could easily be ascribed to a work called "Kakheperresenb's Complaint", written by none other than the egyptian scribe Kakheperresenb himself. (Please don't try to pronounce the name. You WILL get a headache. We will call him "K" from this point forward.) "K" made one of the first recordable blog entries in history circa 2000 BC. Of course "K" didn't have the resources and technology we did today and his audience was probably limited considering the fact that most of the population was illiterate.
"K" left with us the memorable phrase, "'Would I had phrases that are not known, utterances that are strange, in new language that has not been used, free from repetition, not an utterance which men of old have spoken.'' Obviously even then people with a blog were STILL trying to figure out what to write!
But no seriously, the blog IS the way to reach fame and fortune and make a little money on the side. Just ask Darren Rowse, whose most recent (August 2005) income total from Adsense was a little over $16,000! Yeah, that WAS three zeroes behind that 6. Not bad for a guy writing his own comments and ramblings about everything from sports shoes to bad movies. Of course Darren went so far as to even take a course in college on "Entrepeunerial Blogging". Needless to say he must have paid attention.
But you need not take a course to have a good blog that generates hits. Blogger extroidinairre Chris Wright started his by simply posting job openings for engineers which he came across during his own job search. Word got around and before long he realized his hit count was going up and up and up… You get the picture. If you write something interesting that people need to know they WILL come to you – invited or not. As Chris's own story perfectly illustrates.
So run this by me again, you say? You mean ALL I have to do is just start writing stuff about – NOTHING?
No, not exactly. As always, in the internet world and in the real world, content is king. Your writing must be somehow funnier, sharper, wittier, smarter, more bizzare or just plain weird in order for people to link to you and as a result drive up the hits to your blog and hence fatten your pocketbook.
But notice how many options you have. You don't have to depend on your education. Nor do you need a rich and lavish lifestyle that you can blog about while others read with envy. If you can make the boring, dreary life of the average nobody funny and interesting people will come regardless. As mentioned earlier – CONTENT is king.
Good content = more visitors = more banner hits = more money.
So you want to know how to get started with this blogging thing?
It's really pretty easy. There are a number of places that will allow you to host your own blog and most of them do it for free. Blogger is probably the most popular. But there are others. Try some of these on for size if you had rather go the more individual route:
Livejournal – This is the "kinda" cool and hip virtual location for the blogger crowd. You can link to other people by topic and it has some other cool features like the ability to allow posts from only certain people.
Diaryland – Diaryland doesn't hids it's origins. In fact it does it's best to try and make your weblog look as close as possible to the good old fashioned diary/journal that we all know and love. They have a smaller and more intimate community than some of the other locations.
What if you are not sure you want to get started but instead want to just read blogs of others for a while until you get a better idea of what you want to say?
Well there are PLENTY of sites that do nothing but list and aggregate blogs of other people. Here are just a few to get you started:
Globeofblogs – Globe of blogs has a real international flavor. You will find blogs from literally everywhere here.
Blogarama – Another compendium of various blogs on subjects ranging from weird to wonderful.
Blogsearchengine – This site cut's to the chase. If you want to search for blogs they will do it for you. Just enter in the subject of your interest.
Top-blogs.com – Okay so you want to know other success stories? Check out those near the top of the listings here. You will then see what it takes to reach the top.
Well, hopefully you know enough to get started on your own blog by now. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and BLOG!
To understand the blog, first of all a little history is in order. The word "blog" is short for the word "weblog". A weblog is a word coined early in the internet age to designate a journal or diary type page mainly consisting of personal thoughts and reflections. Most of the time it is updated frequently and can range in topic from the mundane to the profound. Sound familiar? It should. What it really is when you get rid of the hype is the good old fashioned diary which has been with us almost as long as language itself.
How long have "blogs" been with us? Well, one of the first instances could easily be ascribed to a work called "Kakheperresenb's Complaint", written by none other than the egyptian scribe Kakheperresenb himself. (Please don't try to pronounce the name. You WILL get a headache. We will call him "K" from this point forward.) "K" made one of the first recordable blog entries in history circa 2000 BC. Of course "K" didn't have the resources and technology we did today and his audience was probably limited considering the fact that most of the population was illiterate.
"K" left with us the memorable phrase, "'Would I had phrases that are not known, utterances that are strange, in new language that has not been used, free from repetition, not an utterance which men of old have spoken.'' Obviously even then people with a blog were STILL trying to figure out what to write!
But no seriously, the blog IS the way to reach fame and fortune and make a little money on the side. Just ask Darren Rowse, whose most recent (August 2005) income total from Adsense was a little over $16,000! Yeah, that WAS three zeroes behind that 6. Not bad for a guy writing his own comments and ramblings about everything from sports shoes to bad movies. Of course Darren went so far as to even take a course in college on "Entrepeunerial Blogging". Needless to say he must have paid attention.
But you need not take a course to have a good blog that generates hits. Blogger extroidinairre Chris Wright started his by simply posting job openings for engineers which he came across during his own job search. Word got around and before long he realized his hit count was going up and up and up… You get the picture. If you write something interesting that people need to know they WILL come to you – invited or not. As Chris's own story perfectly illustrates.
So run this by me again, you say? You mean ALL I have to do is just start writing stuff about – NOTHING?
No, not exactly. As always, in the internet world and in the real world, content is king. Your writing must be somehow funnier, sharper, wittier, smarter, more bizzare or just plain weird in order for people to link to you and as a result drive up the hits to your blog and hence fatten your pocketbook.
But notice how many options you have. You don't have to depend on your education. Nor do you need a rich and lavish lifestyle that you can blog about while others read with envy. If you can make the boring, dreary life of the average nobody funny and interesting people will come regardless. As mentioned earlier – CONTENT is king.
Good content = more visitors = more banner hits = more money.
So you want to know how to get started with this blogging thing?
It's really pretty easy. There are a number of places that will allow you to host your own blog and most of them do it for free. Blogger is probably the most popular. But there are others. Try some of these on for size if you had rather go the more individual route:
Livejournal – This is the "kinda" cool and hip virtual location for the blogger crowd. You can link to other people by topic and it has some other cool features like the ability to allow posts from only certain people.
Diaryland – Diaryland doesn't hids it's origins. In fact it does it's best to try and make your weblog look as close as possible to the good old fashioned diary/journal that we all know and love. They have a smaller and more intimate community than some of the other locations.
What if you are not sure you want to get started but instead want to just read blogs of others for a while until you get a better idea of what you want to say?
Well there are PLENTY of sites that do nothing but list and aggregate blogs of other people. Here are just a few to get you started:
Globeofblogs – Globe of blogs has a real international flavor. You will find blogs from literally everywhere here.
Blogarama – Another compendium of various blogs on subjects ranging from weird to wonderful.
Blogsearchengine – This site cut's to the chase. If you want to search for blogs they will do it for you. Just enter in the subject of your interest.
Top-blogs.com – Okay so you want to know other success stories? Check out those near the top of the listings here. You will then see what it takes to reach the top.
Well, hopefully you know enough to get started on your own blog by now. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and BLOG!
7 Benefits Of Building Niche Blogs
In this article, I will describe 7 benefits of building niche blogs.
A "niche" refers to a targeted market with profit potential that is not saturated with competitors. The whole idea is to realize the benefits of building niche blogs and then find the niche markets out there and start building.
Benefit #1
Niche Blogs are essentially niche websites that are alive!
That's because your blog will grow as you continue to publish posts or pages regularly to your blog. In contrast, many niche websites are seldom modified or updated after they are created.
Benefit #2
Blogs are designed to publish and update contents easily once you have them set up, configured and running.
Once you get the hang of it, it's a matter of getting into that habit of writing blog posts and pages and publishing them regularly.
Benefit #3
They are either FREE or cost very little to set up.
You can create your blogs easily by visiting blogger.com or wordpress.org and taking time to study and learn the "how-to".
Benefit #4
You can make money with your niche blogs in many ways, such as:
- Publishing third-party ads in your blogs (eg. Google Adsense pubishing)
- Recommending affiliate products and services in your blogs (eg. Amazon)
Benefit #5
Unlike websites, blogs are interactive. Visitors, or blog readers, are usually allowed to post comments for a blog post (or article) to the blog owner.
This 'dialog' helps to build rapport and relationship between the blog owner and his visitors or members.
Benefit #6
Since blogs are usually updated regularly via blog posts and pages, blogs will rank higher in search engines as compared to websites. In contrast, you have to do a lot of tweaking to a niche website through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques.
Search engines will visit your blogs more regularly as you blog more regularly.
Thus, you can also place links of your other websites to get them indexed quickly by the search engines.
Benefit #7
A blog's syndication function is its most powerful benefit!
You can syndicate the contents of your blog by allowing other website publishers to publish your feed (or channel) on their sites. This helps to bring more traffic to your blogs as the visitors of these sites subscribe to your feed via web-based or desktop newsreaders.
So, with the above benefits, doesn't it make a lot of sense to start building niche blogs as quickly as possible?
A "niche" refers to a targeted market with profit potential that is not saturated with competitors. The whole idea is to realize the benefits of building niche blogs and then find the niche markets out there and start building.
Benefit #1
Niche Blogs are essentially niche websites that are alive!
That's because your blog will grow as you continue to publish posts or pages regularly to your blog. In contrast, many niche websites are seldom modified or updated after they are created.
Benefit #2
Blogs are designed to publish and update contents easily once you have them set up, configured and running.
Once you get the hang of it, it's a matter of getting into that habit of writing blog posts and pages and publishing them regularly.
Benefit #3
They are either FREE or cost very little to set up.
You can create your blogs easily by visiting blogger.com or wordpress.org and taking time to study and learn the "how-to".
Benefit #4
You can make money with your niche blogs in many ways, such as:
- Publishing third-party ads in your blogs (eg. Google Adsense pubishing)
- Recommending affiliate products and services in your blogs (eg. Amazon)
Benefit #5
Unlike websites, blogs are interactive. Visitors, or blog readers, are usually allowed to post comments for a blog post (or article) to the blog owner.
This 'dialog' helps to build rapport and relationship between the blog owner and his visitors or members.
Benefit #6
Since blogs are usually updated regularly via blog posts and pages, blogs will rank higher in search engines as compared to websites. In contrast, you have to do a lot of tweaking to a niche website through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques.
Search engines will visit your blogs more regularly as you blog more regularly.
Thus, you can also place links of your other websites to get them indexed quickly by the search engines.
Benefit #7
A blog's syndication function is its most powerful benefit!
You can syndicate the contents of your blog by allowing other website publishers to publish your feed (or channel) on their sites. This helps to bring more traffic to your blogs as the visitors of these sites subscribe to your feed via web-based or desktop newsreaders.
So, with the above benefits, doesn't it make a lot of sense to start building niche blogs as quickly as possible?
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