Archive for General
Which platform is better- Blogger or WordPress
Posted by: | CommentsThese are the two major blogging scripts and they each have their strengths and weaknesses.
Blogger is quick and easy to set up and you are likely to get high in the search engine, Google quicker than wordpress as Google own BlogSpot.
WordPress on the other hand is better if you prefer customisation. There are limitless amounts of themes and plugins, both free and paid, however free is more popular with themes nowadays.
Blogger has a very simple interface and is easy to use. You have very little options however to keep the interface clean and easy to use. WordPress however has a quite complex interface that is very web 2.0. There are so many options regarding your layout (theme and widgets-sidebar things) that you have a unique look regardless.
Blogger and WordPress can both be installed on your own hosting/server but WordPress is easier to get it set up and running compared to blogger which requires you to give it your ftp info so it can transfer it over.
If you don’t want to have to worry about bandwidth and space then both offer a easy to use website, wordpress.com and blogspot.com. You can make as many blogs as you wish and are given a free sub domain (eg. yourblogname.wordpress.com or yourblogname.blogspot.com)
One major difference is the fact you can run ads on blogspot yet wordpress forbids you putting adsense or any ad network on your blogs. This restriction does not apply to self hosted blogs as wordpress call them, only to wordpress.com blogs. However some people still do put ads on wordpress.com blogs and get away with it.
This is a big downside for wordpress and another annoying thing is the fact that while blogspot offer you to put your own domain (eg. yourblogname.com) on your blog for free, wordpress charges $10 for the same thing.
And yet another annoying thing is you have to pay $15 a year to edit CSS on wordpress where as on blogger/blogspot you can edit the CSS files for free! However this does prevent, as said by many wordpress.com users, it turning into Myspace, which let’s face it looks pretty bad when some users play around with it!
However wordpress wins in the customisation area as there are well over 4,000 plugins on wordpress.org alone for wordpress and these vary from simple ad management plugins to fancy gallery plugins that can turn your wordpress blog into a fully featured gallery. WordPress can be an arcade, a wallpaper site or whatever you want with the help of some plugins and some theme editing.
Blogger on the other hand is just for that. Blogging. It has not nearly as many themes as wordpress and wordpress themes tend to be a bit more professional than their blogger counter parts.
All in all WordPress is designed for the more professional blogger but for people who simply want to share pictures and things with their friends, blogger is just as good!
How to drive traffic to your blog
Posted by: | CommentsDriving traffic to your blog requires patience and time. You need to wait for a while and build up links before you start to see any significant traffic coming through search engines. If you are on a hosted blog aka wordpress.com or blogspot.com then you are in a better position as these tend to do better in search engine rankings from the start due to being included in things such as tags and post of the day.
On wordpress.com there are related post links at the bottom of each post. Don’t turn these off as your posts won’t be in this list either and they can help when you are just starting out. After you start to see a lot of traffic you won’t need these as much but they still are helpful for that odd bit of traffic. This can give you around 10-20 new visitors daily from it alone!
One major thing is to write quality content. If you really struggle to do this you can buy unique articles from people to put on your blog. Remember the old saying ‘content is king’ while it actually should be unique content is king. Duplicate content can be spotted by Google and other search engines easily and you will go down in the search engine positions which is bad as that results in less people finding your site.If people like your posts they are most likely to subscribe to your feed and tell friends about your blog. This is the best way to get traffic as you don’t have to do anything to get it, except write good content!
Link exchanges are crucial as they help build up pagerank which helps you to go up in the search engines. Also visitors will hopefully click on your link. Don’t think however you can link exchange with anyone. If you two both write about the same sort of things then it will be easy, however if you write about dogs and they write about poker then there is not really much in common and people won’t click to your site. Also if you link to bad sites such as online casinos or warez sites then you will actually lose some of your pagerank and thus your ranking. That is bad. If you end up working really hard at links and get to a PageRank of around 5 or 6 and then start linking to bad sites you will end up going down to PageRank 1 or 2! Big difference and you will go down considerably in the search engines which as stated before, will make you get less visitors finding your site so less visitors.
If you have a lot of money you could try buying links and ads on other sites however you can quickly lose a lot of money. The best traffic is organic traffic, that is traffic from search engines as people are looking for sites in your niche. And don’t forget it costs nothing!
How To Make Money Through Your Blog
Posted by: | CommentsTo make money through your blog you need to be getting good traffic. 10-20 visitors a day is not going to cut it. You must really be getting at least 100 visitors a day if you want to see a $1 day!
It may not sound hard to get $1 a day but it is. You have to build up traffic while optimizing your ads as much as possible with techniques such as blending the ads in with your content. Also you must consider your placement of ads as all your work is useless if your visitors never even see your ads! Consider putting a square ad at the left of the post at the beginning and a horizontal ad at the bottom of your post. Finally a ad in your sidebar (which hopefully is on the left) and you have got good ad placement therefore you visitors will see your ad.
You cannot choose a low paying keyword as this is kind of obvious. Less price per click=less money for you. Some are things like ‘arcade.’ Arcades don’t pay more than around 2 cents per click so make sure you choose a niche that has high cost per click. You should choose a uncompetitive keyword that gets a lot of searches. This takes time but when you find a niche like that it is easy. You can easily climb to the top of the search engine positions and get loads of traffic for nothing!
Make sure your ads are relevant. Don’t use ad networks that you haven’t heard of as most advertisers have not heard of them either. So you get loads of untargeted ads. And users are not likely to click a link to a poker site on a dog walking site!
Affiliate programs may seem good as you can get up to $100 a sale or sometimes more but selling something is very hard on the internet and as a rough guide 100,000 people = one sale! So your best bet is through adsense ads on your site.
Adsense ads are the best for advertising as they have the biggest advertiser base so there ads are very relevant. I have never seem a adsense ad that has unrelated ads on it! One downside is the high $100 cashout minimum. Also it sends checks so you can’t recive money through paypal. However most ad networks pay via check so this isn’t really too much of a downside.
However adsense are the most active people at shutting accounts down just before the $100 cashout. However this doesn’t happen much to those people that follow the adsense rules. So make sure you read them as you don’t want to lose months or even years of hard earned money for one simple mistake!
Make sure that you do work on driving traffic to your site as you can’t make money with a site that no-body vists regardless of your ad placement!
8 Ways NOT to earn through blogging
Posted by: | CommentsBlogging is somewhat seen now as a way to make easy money when the reality is quite the opposite. Nowadays anyone can start a blog, however earning money with it is a different thing completely.
Tip #1-Don’t write about a low paying niche
One major thing is your niche as you don’t want to be writing about things that will earn you little or no money at all. If you write about things that are quite competitive then you can get a good price per click. Some examples are weight loss and making money. However don’t depend your subject solely on how much you will get per click as you want to write about something you know about. If you don’t know much about the subject you are basing your blog upon you will end up struggling to think of ideas and your readers will notice. So one thing you don’t want to do is to write about a low paying keyword.
Tip #2-Don’t put irrelevant ads on your site
If you are writing to people looking to build a site put web-hosting affiliates but don’t put web-hosting banners on a dog walkers site. A Good one to put on a dog walkers site is dog leads/toys etc. If you use adsense this will take care of things
Tip #3-Don’t put contrasting colours for the ads
This makes users spot out the ads. Taking time to change the colour is worthwhile and a easy way to do this is too take a screenshot of your blog and use the colour picker tool. Then change the colours of your ads
Tip #4-Don’t put ads on the right hand side
Unless you are from a country that reads right to left put your ads on the left hand side. This makes the ad stand out to the eye.
Tip #5-Don’t use Bidvitiser
They have a much lower ad range than adsense and so the ads are not at all related. This means your users are not interested in your ads.
Tip #6-Don’t be the same as everyone else
If you want to stand out then be different. If everyone is saying swine flu is bad say its good. Hard to find a good reason but if you do people will be linking to your posts and getting digged. You can earn money a lot easier if you are different. I once wrote a post on why the iPhone was awful and I got loads more views.
Tip #7-Don’t go in the biggest niche
If you go for one of the most biggest niches then you will find it a hard time getting to the top 1,000 in google let alone the top 10.
Tip #8-Don’t go for 1 worded keywords
If you go for the keyword ‘dog’ you will have a harder job of getting high in google or any search engine. Instead go for ‘long tail’ keywords such as ‘red dog leads’
Affiliate Programs: How to choose the right one for you
Posted by: | CommentsChoosing the wrong affiliate program has often been said to be one of the main reasons that affiliates fail. Therefore, you should choose your program carefully. Keep these things in mind and they will help you make the right decision.
#1 Choose such a product or some service that is already in demand or something that people actually need. Whatever product you select, you should love to promote it. If do not know where to start, then begin by putting “affiliate programs” in any search engine.
#2 The particular service or product should be related to your own website. It does not make sense to promote something that is not even relevant to the site. You will not get any clicks because your visitors are anyway not interested in those products.
#3 Join a reputable, safe and reliable program. You can verify it from the BBB or the Better Business Bureau. Visiting forums or online discussion groups can also help you with this.
#4 Make sure the commission is enough for you. Compare your efforts and the commissions they should make sense. You do not need to put in lot of effort over a meagre commission.
#5 The program should be equipped with a good tracker so that your sales are credited to you rightfully.
#6 You should look at the “hits per sales ratio”. This will determine how much traffic you need to generate before you can see any real sale.
#7 Check the frequency of payments. Most often, the payments are monthly, but they can even be quarterly or weekly. You can make the choice depending upon your preferences.
#8 Some affiliate programs are single tiered while some are double tiered. Single tier programs pay you when your referral makes a purchase. However, two tiered programs allow you to recruit another affiliate and any sales that your recruit makes, also earn you commissions. Besides, they sometimes even pay for those recruitments.
#9 They should offer good tools as well as proper resources that will help you make the sale. Things like banners, brochures, text links, websites as well as affiliate training are some of the tools that the program should provide to ensure success.
#10 Before going for any program, read the terms and conditions carefully. Understand what you are expected to do beforehand.
All of these tips will help you make a wise decision regarding your affiliate program. You will need patience, perseverance and effort to see success in this field.
MLM Blog Traffic – How to Get It
Posted by: | CommentsIn order to generate quality MLM blog traffic, you have to have something interesting to say. If it’s too obvious of a sales pitch, without providing some insight, people won’t stick around.
It’s all about the content you provide for your niche. Your platform has much to do with how well you rank. Blog posting needs done every day. Links are very important. Ping and buzz your posts and link to other bloggers as much as possible.
Here are Ten Tips for MLM blog traffic:
1. Write yourself five articles as a foundation. They give these articles this name – PILLARS. They usually have a tutorial style to them and provide learning information for your audience. Keep them around 500 to 600 words and keep your blog updated regularly.
2. Daily posting is what will keep your content fresh. Not all have to be ‘Pillars’ but fresh material is crucial. You want new customers to see that you keep your blog up, and this will encourage them to come back.
3. Pick a domain name that’s relevant to your niche.
4. Leave comments all over. Find blogs with niches that are similar to your own. These reader are more likely to want to visit your site.
5. Trackback and link to other blogs as often as possible. These conversations and comments will lead readers back to your blog. When you have a new article, you can trackback to someone else’s blog, and leave a short summary about your new article. It’s enticing, and leads readers to your site.
6. Remember other people’s comments are important. Be sure to comment back and keep the dialogue going.
7. Blog carnivals are good places to submit a pillar article. These carnivals are posts in a blog that lists many different blogs. Go – http://blogcarnival.com/.
8. Try to find some of the top places to get your blog seen. Blogtopsites.com is one of these types of sites. They’re good ways to get quality MLM traffic to your blog. This can net you up to around ten subscribers a day if done correctly.
9. Submitting to Ezines is great exposure.
10. Consistently write more pillars. One or two good ones a week will keep your blog strong for traffic. Build upon the first five, and then in no time at all you’ll have a collection of 40 to 60 of your own good strong pillar articles. They will do the work for you, and keep your list of subscribers growing.
‘Must-Haves’ for Success With an MLM Business
Posted by: | CommentsWork at home ideas and MLM opportunities are sweeping the net. A big dream for a lot of people is to make money online. Some find success, while others struggle in their search of how to make it happen.
Affiliate programs. Today they’re pretty hot. But in order to make money at these, you must have an internet marketing strategy that’s geared toward your goals for success.
It seems most people who set out on this journey choose the MLM programs. For one, they have good support systems, and will teach you what to do in order to make good with their business. There are many new ones popping up every day, and you just have to find one that fits you.
When you shop around for an MLM company to put your efforts to work with, be sure you like their products. Ask yourself what kind of a track record do they have. Is it something you can stick with for the long haul? How long have others taken to make decent money here?
A great product is a fine thing, but it can’t be the end all. Good training tools and support are vital to this kind of business. Read over their payment system well. Is there residual income?
Good sponsoring is crucial to a successful MLM business. Many people start in this business, only to get discouraged and fail before they can make it work for them. It takes a commitment, and some perseverance through some rough spots, but the payoffs can be substantial.
A truly good program will have all the necessities, like support and training, and good advertising help. You can have the best product and site on the net, but if nobody knows about it, it’s useless. Advertising is the nuts and bolts of internet marketing.
Some free advertising can be found, but most of the advertising that’s worth having will probably cost you something. It’s hard to build a successful business for free, which is why so many fail.
Your company should be good at teaching you good marketing skills. And when you learn from them, you should be able to pass that knowledge and skill on to your down line. It can be hard work, and it depends on how committed you are as to how successful you will be. Many retire in a few years, but they had to stick it out during some ‘not so good’ times. 80% of people who start, give up and quit. That’s huge.
That’s why the company you choose is so vital to your success. You have to be able to devote yourself to it, and stay with it until your success is realized. Wanting it enough to see it through, you can make your dreams of an MLM business come true.
PPC
Posted by: | CommentsUse PPC in your affiliate network and earn big profits
Before I tell you how you can do this, let me tell you how these PPC search engines actually work.
The engines make listings and then they rate them depending on what bid amount the site owner pays in return for every click to their site from the search engine. Thus, if the pay is high, the ranking is high, it is as simple as that. Advertisers make the bids in order to get a high ranking for any particular phrase or keyword.
The one who bids the highest will be at the top, that is, at the number one position in the search results. All the results will appear in the order of their ranking, so that the highest bidder is at the top while the lowest is at the bottom.
How can you earn using PPC along with your affiliate network?
This is a valid question and the answer will dazzle you. The earnings are obviously easier in PPC compared to any other form of affiliate marketing. You do not have to necessarily make any sale, all you need is the highest number of clicks.
If you incorporate PPC search engine into your affiliate marketing program, then you will profit not only from any sale that you might make, but you will also profit from such visitors who might have simply come to your site without any intention of buying.
This way you can build a reputation of being a helpful resource. If the visitors find just what they wanted from your website, then they are very much likely to return.
This means more than easy profit for you. It means that your site can become more reputed and trustworthy. These programs also allow you to exchange your commissions for advertising. This will allow you to exchange your random visitors for some target visitors. Thus, your chances of making a sale will increase even more.
Generally, PPC have some ready-to-use tools for affiliates. These are easy to incorporate into your site. Most often, these tools are banners, text links, search boxes as well as a few 404-error pages.
It is better to research a bit more into how you can do this and what it is all about than to miss a wonderful opportunity of earning more profits.
Some of the major benefits are an increase in income and not only that, but also some extra cash to go with it. Besides that, you can earn lifetime commissions after you have made referrals of webmasters to that engine.
Thus, you can use these tools to increase your income and earn big profits.
E-Commerce
Posted by: | CommentsAffiliate links and e-commerce mirror sites
E-commerce sites have become more than an option for people working from home and selling products. An e-commerce site allows you the freedom of not having to stock up inventory or ship any product. Nearly all that you have to do is to promote your website well. Thus, doing business online does not seem that hard now, right?
You do not even have to worry if you do not know a thing about an E-Commerce site. The reason is that it is easy enough to learn once you get on it. What you can do is to sign a contract with some reputable e-commerce company. Now the company will create a mirror site for you. This site is the same as their site with the difference that it has your affiliate codes included in it. This allows them to monitor when you make a sale so that you can earn the commission.
You do not have to do any shipping or handling of the product. However, you do need to promote that site. If you have a busy life and you do not like stuck to your desk all day long, then this will be perfect for you. Now, you will not have to wait by the computer, for the sale to happen. All this is automated. All you have to do is to increase the traffic on your site. This will allow you to be able to convert that traffic into sales.
Other options with e-commerce
There are ways to go other than a mirror site. You can agree affiliation with any other site that allows you to do so. Then, all you have to do is place their banner on your site. Anybody who clicks on it and then goes ahead to make a purchase will earn you a commission.
Nevertheless, these do not help you earn so much profit as the mirror site does. While some companies like ClickBank offer huge commissions, others do not. Therefore, it is better to check that before moving forward.
If you think about it, it all boils down to the right kind of promotion. Whether it is a mirror site or your own site, you will have to do the promotion. You will have to generate traffic on the site because unless there is traffic, there is no chance of converting into sales.
Thus, make your site user-friendly and rich in good content so that it can achieve high rankings in search engines and can easily generate some good traffic for you.
Starting a Business – Basic Factors
Posted by: | CommentsStarting a business enterprise is exactly similar to any other human effort in which resources are employed to achieve certain objectives. Successful results depend largely upon the capability of the starters or owners of a new business to foresee problems and solve them with minimum cost. This is especially true of the modern business world where competition is very tough and risks are high. Some of the problems, which business enterprises encounter, are of a basic nature. For example, to start a factory, plans must be made and implemented about such problems as the location of the business, the possible number of customers, the kind and amount of equipment, the shop layout, purchasing and financing needs, and hiring of workers. However, some of the basic factors, which must be considered by anybody who is to start the business, are as follows:
Choice of form of ownership: With respect to ownership, the business organization may take the form of a sale proprietorship, partnership, or a joint stock company. Each form has its own merits and demerits.
Selection of line of business: The decision will be influenced by the customer requirements in the market and also the kind of technical knowledge and interest the entrepreneur has for producing a particular product.
Size of the firm: Size of the firm or scale of its operation is another important decision to be taken at the start of the business.
Financing the proposition: Financing is concerned with providing the necessary capital for starting as well as for continuing the proposed business. Capital is required for investment in fixed assets like land, building, machinery and equipment and in current assets like raw materials, book debts, stock of finished goods, etc.
Tax planning: Tax planning has become necessary these days because there are a number of tax laws in the country and they influence almost every aspect of the functioning of modern business.
Starting an online business is very similar to an offline business - you need to dedicate time and effort into whatever you plan to do.
