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How to Set-up a Website That Will Make Money Online Part 1
November 10, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
How to Set-up a Website that will Make Money Online Setting everything up You have several options when it comes to setting up a site or a blog. I will list the free choices first:
Hubpages set you up with – Kontera (In text advertising), Google Adsense (Contextual Advertising), Amazon Assossiates (Affiliate Advertising) and eBay (Affiliate Advertising). You also get a pretty addicting experience – you get your own profile which has a score (so do your hubs) and the higher the score, the more traffic you get. Out of the 3 above I would personally recommend Hubpages (for the short term). You will see results faster – you can spend more time writing articles rather than fidgeting with the template – you will have good SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Placement, – what page you appear in the results for a particular keyword) from the beginning.I do not – however – recommend using Hubpages – if you are aiming for more than $1,000 a month *which is already extremely difficult solely using Hubpages*. There are plenty of people who make a good income with a Blogger blog. There is one pitful to this – Google owns you. Google can shut down your account for ANY reason – also the Blogger system for templates is a downright pain in the ass.
If you want to get everything right from the beginning I suggest you get a webhosting from a company. I use Hostgator – because they were appealing and they have well-priced plans and decent customer service. You can also buy a reseller account (an account where you can sell webhosting – basically start your own webhosting company for $25).
I found out a way to get 1 cent (yes $0.01) hosting for the first month! After that of course you pay the full price ($5-$10 depending on your plan). What you need to do is this: Go sign up for a plan you want – than at the checkout, in the Coupon Code insert: 404PAGE
At least you can try out a proper webhost for a month to see if it is really for you. Other than Hostgator – there are a lot of other Webhosts which are also very good. I recommend checking out:
You will also need a domain registrar – and for this I recommend Godaddy
If you hunt long and well enough you should be able to find a coupon for a $1 (dot com) for the first year (after that fees are usually $10 per year). When you buy a domain name – it is usually recommended that you get a 2-3 keyword rich domain, depending on your niche. For example if you were dealing with Car Insurance Quotes you might come up with – www.InsuranceCarQuotes.com
I will discuss how to pick your niche later.Note – avoid buying Domain names with Hosting plans from the same source – the reason is, companies want money – and if you buy a twin plan you will have a hard time switching host/domain to another provider.
Once you have rerouted your Domain Name Server (DNS) to your host, you will need to use a script (in order to save time) to get your site up and running. I use the Content Management System (CMS) Wordpress (well not really a “CMS” more of a blog) because it is very versatile and easy to use. You can find instructions on how to install Wordpress easily online – if you have a Cpanel host (which I thoroughly recommend) than you will most likely have Fantastico. Utilizing Fantastico you can install Wordpress in seconds.
No matter what CMS (if you are using one) you use, the default theme is probably not of interest to you. Just search online until you find a theme you like, and modify it to your needs. Worst case scenario – hire a template designer to make one for you. CSS, PHP, and HTML are pretty easy to learn and are useful skills to attain – therefore I recommend you simply redesign an existing template.
Selecting a Niche: Many people do not know what to write about when they create or decide to create their own site. My suggestion is just write about something you’re passionate about – that way you are more likely to stay motivated through the tough times.
If you are only creating a website in order to make money – you will probably want to select a niche which has a lot of offers or products. If you believe you’re main source of income will be coming from Google AdSense than I suggest you use the Spyfu tool. It is basically a tool which analysis a specific keyword and tells you how much you can get paid for that keyword via Google Adsense.You should use SpyFu.com to find a profitable niche – do so in conjunction with Tools.Seobook keyword research tool. Tools.Seobook.com will allow you to see how many searches are done per day for a specific keyword – and related keywords. You want to aim for long-tail keywords which receive ~100 total searches per day. This is done in order to minimize competition. Speaking of competition, you will need to check out other websites in your niche to see how big of a “threat” they are. You will want to check the amount of backlinks, its Page Rank, its Alexa rank and so on.
This was part one – expect a part two shortly on how to do basic SEO.
7 Ways To Establish Your Personal Brand For Online Business Success
November 8, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Whether you are a freelancer, internet marketer, offline business owner, or a recent college graduate who is looking for a job, you need to create a strong and professional online presence to succeed in today’s business world. How do you create an online profile that is recognizable and trustworthy? Follow the steps in this article and within a couple of months you will establish a polished online personal brand for yourself.
1. Get a domain. A top level domain, preferably a dot com domain, is a must for your personal brand. It can be a your name, your business name or some other assumed name that you want to associate yourself with. If you already own an offline business you can start with your business name.
Finding a short domain name is almost impossible these days. In most cases, you will be able to find a three words domain name easily. If your own name is somewhat unique, you can be that lucky one whose name is not already taken by domain squatters.
Use DomainBot to do your domain research. When you enter one or more keywords in the DomainBot search box, the website will suggest a large number of available domains that are different variations of your keywords. If you like a domain, you can directly register the domain with one of the domain registrars like godaddy or 1and1.
2. Get a website. After you register a domain, you need to get a web host to host your website. If you are absolutely not going to spend any money for web hosting, sign up for Google’s Blogger platform to start a blog. It is free. Use your own registered domain, instead of the default sub domain that Google offers for Blogger platform.
If you are ready to spend $25 a month, you can sign up for a reseller account at Hostgator. With a reseller account, you can create unlimited websites. Hostgator offers a commercial script library called Fantastico that automates installation of web applications in your sites. Start with installing a Word Press blog.
3. Get your globally recognized avatars. A globally recognized avatars or gravatar is a picture that follows you from site to site appearing next to your name when you do things like commenting in a blog, posting in web forums.
You can use your own picture or a professionally designed graphic image for your gravatar. If you are using a graphic picture, make it unique and get it done professionally. If it is your own picture, take the picture in a lighted area showing your face clearly.
4. Start a blog. Pick a few topics that you are interested in. One of them should be your chosen profession or business niche. Also pick topics related to your hobby or something that you want to learn more about.
Create an about page in your blog, put your avatars and tell your story in short 300-600 words. Make it interesting, intriguing, or humorous.
Go to Technorati, a blog directory, and search your topics to find blogs related to your interests. Subscribe to a dozen high quality, popular blogs using Google reader. Make a habit of reading a few interesting articles in your niche every day.
Now start writing your own articles for your blog regularly. If you like writing, you can write couple of times a week. If you have hard time coming up with topics to write about, start with a few articles a month and slowly work towards one article per week.
5. Visit blogs and forums related to your topic of interest. Leave insight full comments in other blogs and create interesting posts in forums. Create a forum signature with your gravatar in every forum you join.
Use a back link to your blog in your signature. When you create a post in a forum, your signature will be appended to your post. When you post a comment in a blog, use the URL of your blog and your gravatar name. You will be instantly recognized.
6. Create Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin Profiles. Facebook and twitter are two popular social media sites with millions of users. Facebook is mainly used for networking with like minded persons and Twitter is for sharing short timely messages about news, industry trends, interesting articles, and if you are doing any interesting thing. Linkedin is for exchanging information, ideas, and opportunities with professionals in your field.
Update Facebook status and post twitter messages every day. You can start with sharing interesting articles that you have read, productivity tips, interesting pictures, etc. You will soon find people start following you in Twitter if you are posting interesting things every day. Using Facebook’s friend suggestion tool, you can request friendship with others in the Facebook network.
7. Learn and use search engine optimization. It is a very valuable instrument at your disposal to propel you websites and social media profile pages for higher search engine rankings. You don’t have to be a professional in search optimization, just learn the basics and apply them whenever you create contents.
You don’t need to buy any expensive books or sign up for extensive training program. Use free information available online. You can start with SEOBook site and download some free ebooks on search engine optimization.
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