How to Make Money on the Internetby Wayne Patterson It is a fact that most legitimate internet businesses fail. The reason they fail is that most people think all they have to do is to obtain a free website, upload a few pages and the money will come. Nothing could be further from the truth. The internet is a business that requires work and commitment to be a success. Along the way you will find a multitude of ways other internet marketers have developed to separate you from your money. It is very enticing when someone promises to make you an instant internet millionaire. There is a saying about the internet, "The fortunes of the few are made on the failures of the many". I do not pretend to be a guru or to have made a fortune from my websites. Basically they are a hobby and it is nice that they are starting to bring in regular, albeit small, checks each month. They keep Carolyn off my case about all the time I spend at the computer. What I want to share is some recommendations so you will be a success with your venture into cyberspace. These are not necessarily anything new or revolutionary but simply good business practices adapted to the internet. The first thing to decide is your product. It should be something that you are already interested in promoting. This can be your existing business, a hobby, or any field in which you have always desired to become an expert. Once you have decided on a theme you need to do your research. If the field you have selected is already saturated with competitors offering cheaper prices , you may need to rethink your business plan. Research is easy if you download the Alexa search toolbar. Alexa provides the popularity ranking of websites along with a wealth of other information. Enter the search terms that you would use if you were trying to find your proposed site. Make a list of what you consider the best sites for future reference. If you think you can develop a website that will be just as good or better than the competition then you are ready for your first and most important commitment, the selection of a host. If you are serious about your business do not use one of he free website services. They are fine if your website is just a hobby but you will not be ranked in the search engines unless you have your own domain name. Search engine placement is the single most important element in determining success or failure. Unless you are prepared to spend your time on trying to get your site ranked rather than on your business, then there is only one service that provides a complete marketing and design package, Sitebuilder. Now you need to set aside two or three months to develop and refine your site. It takes at least this long for the search engines to spider and rank any new site so don't be impatient. Study the manuals and information provided by Sitebuilder. Develop a linking strategy and continually add content, content and more content. Gradually you will see a steady increase in visitors. There is a reason why so many of the Sitebuilder clients are in the top 2% of all websites. If you are going to sell hamburgers, you want your restaurant on a main road with thousands of cars going by. You are not going to open up on a back road in the middle of nowhere. It is the same concept in internet marketing. You have to get your product in front of your customers. Your store is open and ready, you have started a customer base and now you need to advertise. My suggestion is that you begin with Overture. If you have followed the SBI recommendations you will have no problem receiving editorial approval. Otherwise you need to pay the $199 for the fast track program. With Overture you bid for search engine placement. Start with some of the less popular keywords and optimize your site for them. This will get you started and not break your budget. You can add to your bids and change your keywords as you track the results of your campaign. Watch your spending carefully. It is very easy to waste a lot of money on internet advertising and have no sales. Now that you have a reasonable amount of daily traffic to your site, your Alexa ranking is below 1,000,000, you need to decide how to make the most money from your site. The other articles or ebooks that you will read start with the money. Notice that I have saved this to the last as should you. Develop your site, keyword your content, get ranked with the search engines, start advertising and then select the best options available to increase your profits. One of the most popular ways to generate revenue is through the Google Adsense program. You have seen these ads on the Google search engine and numerous websites. Every time someone clicks on one of these ads on your site you receive a small commission. Unless you have a tremendous amount of traffic this will generate only a few dollars per day but it is every day, day after day. The downside is that these ads encourage people to leave your site. Now we get to the real moneymaker, affiliate programs. This is where you market and sell someone else's product for a commission. This is no different from being an insurance salesman or book store owner. The key is to select the programs that will sell to the people who now visit your site. Remember that list of related sites you were to make. What affiliate programs are they promoting? There is nothing wrong with copying success. Alexa gives you their contact information. Most webmasters are a wealth of information so don't be afraid to give them a call.
Remember that traffic equals success. It doesn't matter how pretty or nice your site looks.
All that matters is if you can get ranked with the search engines and drive targeted
traffic to your site. The bottom line is the sale. Congratulations, you are now a
successful webmaster and can add
the coveted WM designation after your name.
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