Many people have the wrong notion that making money from websites is as simple as 1,2,3. Just buy a domain name, install WordPress, and wait for the money to be deposited to your bank account. What they don’t understand is the consistent hard work necessary for maintaining a site.
Here is a list of mistakes that you must avoid when creating your own website:
- Not giving importance to the site’s design and theme - Let’s face it, people want to visit blogs that are beautifully designed. The layout does not only represent your personality, it also encourages readers to focus on your content and other important parts of the site.
- Not setting a realistic budget for building the website – If you really want your site to achieve a professional look, you will have to expect higher expenses on labor costs. You will have to hire the best web designer, content provider and virtual assistant who can meet your expectations.
- Not going live as soon as possible – There is no need to wait until your website is perfectly finished for you to go live. You can continue on updating your site as the number of visitors increases.
- Slowing down after going live – Even if the theme of your website is all set and ready for public viewing, it doesn’t mean that your hard work is over. On the contrary, it is the beginning of SEO (search engine optimization) campaigns. You need to boost your ranking in Google top results.
- Not using SEO techniques – Even if you are not an expert in optimizing websites, you can simply install a special SEO plugin to your site to make things easier. This can save you lots of efforts and money too.
- Lack of focus to customers - They are the most important asset of your online business. Without them, it is quite impossible to continue operating the company.
- Not using CMS (Content Management System) – Although HTML is good, nothing can beat WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla when it comes to running a website. WordPress is particularly famous to developers because it gives them plenty of opportunities for customization and development.
- Lack of copyright statement – Ensure that your content is protected from spammers by placing an updated copyright statement in your sidebar or footer.
- Unnecessary widgets – Do not clutter your site with visitor counter, flag counter, and other things that only make your website appear unprofessional. Instead, use Google Analytics or Alexa for accurate measurement of traffic.
- No call to action invitation – At the end of your blog posts, do not forget to invite the readers or visitors to click on your affiliate links. Internet marketers call this “call to action.” You can ask your followers to subscribe to your newsletter or place their order on your products and services.
Although people have different views and opinions about the things that you must avoid when establishing a website, these are the basic errors that you should not commit. Avoid the mistakes that small business owners are doing and boost your traffic.
Having an online business means being able to plan, market, and understand your customers. It entails a lot of maintenance, research and development, and a strong relationship with clients. In order for your web-based business to survive, the following pointers should be considered:
- Deep understanding of your customers – Basically, you are dealing with virtual people. All transactions are done via the internet so it is very unlikely to meet your clients in person. However, you have to pinpoint their wants and needs even if you don’t know them personally. This will help you in meeting their expectations.
- Set realistic promises – Never tell your client that you are going to deliver on a particular time if you are not sure of your capabilities and resources. Doing so is like putting yourself in the worst situation possible. Take note that winning a customer by false promises is a threat to the reputation and image of your company.
- Set a realistic timeline – A successful business does not happen over night. You have to choose which aspects need to be prioritized. People will tell you that 80% of it is all about marketing. This is especially true if your company is web-based. As we know, the competition in the internet is so stiff. Thus, strategic marketing techniques should be given high priority.
- Continuous innovation – Whether you are offering products or services, research and development are crucial to the company’s growth in the future. Without innovative moves, the business will remain stagnant. Remember that the customer buying attitude changes as time goes by. You have to catch up with that.
- Branding is important – Offering a product or service is not enough. To maximize your sales potential, you have to learn the essentials of branding. Learn your market place, analyze competition level, technology, and other factors that have direct or indirect impact to your performance.
- No need to hurry – As mentioned earlier, it won’t happen in one night only. Rome was not built in a day, so they say. Expect your business to expand gradually to cope with environmental changes in a natural speed. Another thing to consider is that making too many quick decisions might result to expensive expenses which your business can’t afford.
- Social networking – Don’t forget the power of social media. Use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn whenever possible to build connections. This will expose your company to better and bigger opportunities.
You should not rely on luck for your business to become successful. Some people believe that only lucky individuals can succeed in a running an online store or company. But it in truth, the most successful business owners are the ones who worked hard, failed, and learned from their mistakes.
Sharing your knowledge is a great way to generate extra income for your family. It’s fairly easy and won’t take a lot of your time. The good thing about this gig is that you are being paid for helping other people with their questions and queries. It’s fun, enjoyable and even kids can do it. More so, you don’t have to be a genius to participate in this part-time job. Most of the time, these questions are only seeking for your opinion or for a piece of advice.
Here are the popular Q&A websites that will pay you for answering questions:
- Mahalo.com – This paid-to-answer website is not only very popular but has been operating in the internet for several years already. It is probably the oldest or one of the first Q&A sites established making it a reliable source of modest income. Answering questions is the primary way of making money from Mahalo but you can also generate cash by writing articles and by proofreading content which are already published in the site.
- Quomon.com – This site is fairly new in the question and answer industry but is definitely legitimate and scam-free. Registration is 100% free whether you want to ask a question or you want to give answer or advice. Since this is a Google Adsense revenue sharing site, your earnings will depend on the number of views which your answer will get. For every 1000 viewers, you will receive $1.
- ExpertSEOForum.com – SEO (search engine optimization) is a huge thing in the internet and webmasters and online entrepreneurs are very interested in this topic. As a matter of fact, they are willing to pay experts for sharing their knowledge regarding seo-related issues. If you have expertise in this field, take advantage of your skills and earn money by simply sharing valuable information about optimizing web pages. The system is very simple. For every approved answer or advice that you’ve given, you will receive tokens which are convertible to cash.
- HelpOwl.com – Basically, there are two ways to earn money from this website. First, you can browse questions in the site and answer the ones that you are knowledgeable of. Second, you can rate answers according to their accuracy. Additional points are given away to answers which users marked as helpful. More so, try to be the first person to answer a question as this will also add up to your points.
If you love helping people by answering their questions, this online gig is perfect for you. The job is quite easy so expect also to receive a modest amount for doing this task. Look for Q&A websites that are certified legit to ensure that your time will not be wasted with scam sites.
Oct 11
29
How to make money from forums
Being a web worker means constantly searching for opportunities to earn cash from the internet. There are so many methods that you can try and one of these is creating a forum website of your own. Although this entails a lot of hard work, think of generating traffic and encouraging more members to join the forum, this also means serious money if you are to succeed in this venture.
Here are some of the things that you can do to generate income from forums:
- Run advertisements Once your website already has thousands of active members, you can install Google Adsense in the most strategic places of your site. You can also accept banners and text link ads from companies and other websites. Pricing depends on the number of page views that your forum is receiving in a monthly basis.
- Subscription model Premium membership or paid subscription is another way to earn from a niche forum. This method is only effective to forum sites that offer highly valuable information to members. People are willing to pay if they can benefit or learn important things by joining your site.
- Use it to search for client leads Starting a niche forum or one that has a sharp focus on a particular topic can lead you to finding more clients for your business. For example, if your website is about making crafts, you will attract people who are also interested in similar things. In the long run, this will also pave way to meeting customers who are in need of your crafts.
- Create backlinks As the owner of the forum, you have the freedom to build backlinks to your personal or business blog. You can make use of signatures and html links to drive visitors to your other sites. Another thing that you can do is to charge members for inserting links in their signatures on a monthly basis.
- Affiliate programs Promote Clickbank products in your site that will be interesting to your members. If the forum is intended for people who want to lose weight, promoting informational products such as videos and ebooks about how to burn fats will definitely sell like hot pancakes. You just have to carefully select digital products that will solve the problem of your members.
As much as possible, try not to clutter your forum website with advertisements which are not relevant to your niche as these will only distract your members. Monitor also every member’s activity to avoid spammers and scammers because this will discourage people, specially those who are paying for the membership, to come back to the site.
Twitter can help your business in many ways in terms of promotion and in generating of additional revenues. As we know, almost everyone is into social media these days which means that tweeting is a good way of reaching out to your customers. Aside from having a separate Twitter account for your company, you can also hire tweeters with thousands of followers to do the following for you:
- Hold contests – holding an online contest is a brilliant idea to generate traffic to your company’s website. Huge corporations are actually doing this technique to create “noise” for their products and services. For example, you can ask participants to tweet why they like your product and the best answer will receive a special gift courtesy of your company. This is going to be a guaranteed success since internet users love to join contests that give them opportunities to receive cash and giveaways for free.
- Announcements – send tweets to your customers about the latest events, parties, gatherings, ribbon cutting, etc. Make the invitation a little bit personal with a happy tone to create bond and loyalty with your consumers. Another good approach is to hire famous personalities and bloggers with millions of followers to draw more people to the event. Use Twitter to announce special offers, discounts, sale, launching of new products, etc.
- Gathering of feedback – Twitter is also a good way to monitor your reputation to consumers. To ensure their continuous support, it is crucial to be aware about their impression and personal experiences in using your products. Social medias like Twitter and Facebook are effective tools to receive real-time feedback and comments from your target market. Remember also that not all tweets mentioning the name of your company means positive for your corporate image. Work on the negative mentions to build customer satisfaction and loyalty. In a way, it can act as additional support for the buyers too.
- Poll and survey – Some companies also make use of tweeting to gather necessary information from their followers. It can serve as your measuring stick regarding your performance in the market. You can survey people about what they want to improve in your product. Ask them about what additional features they would like to integrate or if they want to remove anything.
Doing these methods will certainly improve your visibility in the industry and will also encourage customers to patronize your offerings. More so, use social media to spread news about your recent product offerings and to get a quick response from your target market.
Oct 11
27
Legitimate home-based jobs
Whether you are a stay-at-home mommy or a college student, there are plenty of home-based jobs waiting for you online. As long as you have a computer and a stable internet connectivity, you can start immediately and make money right away. In general, employers are looking for people who are competent in writing, encoding, typing, and other administrative positions.
Below is a short list of legit home-based jobs that you can try:
- Tutor.com – You don’t have to be a licensed teacher to be accepted for this position but you are required to be currently enrolled in college or you must be a recent university graduate. The job entails teaching elementary and high school students with specific subjects, usually Science and Math, and helping them out with their homework and school projects. You will receive a monthly compensation of $800 to $1600 depending on the number of hours you spent to perform the tasks.
- HP Product Tester – The famous Hewlett Packard company is looking for individuals who are willing to test run their new products before these are launched in the marketplaces. You will be asked to use items such as printers, digital camera, laptop, desktop, fax machine, etc. The cool thing about this opportunity is that you can keep whatever you are assigned to test at home. For example, if they sent you a mobile phone for testing, you just need to send a report about the performance of the item but you can keep it for yourself. No need to return the product to the company.
- Blindskills.com – Have you lost your day job because of deteriorating eyesight? Then this is your chance to start earning modest income again. The website is looking for people who can write about their experiences in losing their ability to see. The company pays $15 to $35 for every story accepted for publication. You can share your stories of coping up and recovery, how you are able to accept your disability, and other things that will enlighten and inspire people with similar situation.
- Finger Lakes Magazine – This website pays article contributors 12 cents per word which is fairly high compared with other online publications. The magazine has a strong focus on wildlife, nature and beauty. Aside from writers, they are also looking for freelance photographers who can contribute relevant photos and illustrations to the company. The pay averages from $80 to $165.
If writing is not your expertise, the best option is to send your application as a beta and delta product tester for HP. This is almost unheard of and not everyone knows about this opportunity. You only need to evaluate the product and you can even keep it for your personal use. Simply put, it can be the best home-based job that you can ever have.
Choosing the right products to promote has a huge impact on your conversion rate. If you are one lucky internet marketer, you might stumble upon a product that would sell like hot pan cakes in the online marketplaces. If you’re unlucky then you might find it extremely difficult to earn from commissions. ClickBank is the largest platform where sellers and buyers meet. The website is teeming with infoproducts that you can promote and picking the right ones will decide how much money you are going to make.
When picking the most promising digital infoproducts in ClickBank, the following statistics should be considered:
- Gravity. Successful internet marketers choose items based on their popularity. A product that is more popular than its counterparts tend to have a higher conversion rate. As a marketer, you are confronted with two options. First, you can promote a product of high gravity but is already being promoted by hundreds of affiliate marketers. Or second, you can promote a product with low gravity but is not selling well in the market. Normally, experts suggest to go for affiliate products with moderate gravity of 30 to 80 so as not to put your investment at risk.
- Commission. Another important factor when deciding on which infoproduct to promote is how much you are going to receive for each item sold. Who would like to spend plenty of hours writing SEO articles then get only $20 for every sale made? Hence, you will have to analyze your expenses and earnings and then see if the commissions are worth your effort. For instance, if you are spending $100 monthly for article writers, you should be earning $200 from commissions to outweigh your efforts.
- Sales page. Once you have decided on what items are most profitable and most suitable to your niche, the next thing that you have to put into consideration is the landing page. You have to write a compelling sales page to attract customers in buying the product. Did you know that the best sellers in ClickBank are items with a professional sales page? If you can’t do it, hire a copy writer who can create a persuasive and search engine optimized content for the landing page. This will not only drive traffic to your site but will also convince visitors to try the product.
Earning cash from ClickBank primarily depends on what specific type of infoproducts you would like to promote. Thus, you have to understand the trends and what consumers are looking for. Also, being an affiliate marketer means putting your credibility at stake. So make sure that you analyze a product’s statistics, graphs, sales track records, and history before making a decision.
Blogsvertise is one of the most trusted and most reliable get-paid-to blog websites. It has been operating in the industry for the past couple of years and bloggers earn thousands of dollars from writing sponsored posts for them. Reviews are priced from $5 up to $40 depending on the requirements of the advertisers. If you are interested in submitting your blog for possible blogging gigs, you have to understand how you can earn money from the system.
Blog Approval
Your blog must be at least two months old with a minimum of 20 posts to be accepted. Do not submit blogs that are not yet indexed or cached by Google because these will only receive rejection from the site admin.
Post Approval
Once your blog has been approved, you will receive tasks via email. You have to finish the task within 5 days otherwise, it will expire and will be re-assigned to another blogger. Make sure your post is composed of more than 200 words, containing 3 links to the advertiser’s website, and must have 3 or more paragraphs.
Agreement
By accepting the blog sponsorship, you agree that
- the post will never be deleted from your site
- the links are permanent and do-follow
- the content is original
- you did not copy anything from the advertisers’ web page
- there should be no-follow tags within the body.
Violation of any of the terms means suspension from Blogsvertise.
Affiliate Program
A blogger can earn passive income from this website by referring new advertisers to the system. If the advertiser spent $1000 on sponsorship, the blogger who referred him will receive 20% of revenues which is $200. This is an easy way to earn extra cash. You just have to insert banners and text link ads in your blog’s sidebar and wait for people to sign up using your affiliate link.
Payment System
All payments are sent via PayPal 30 days after the post has been approved by the admin. To illustrate, if your post was approved on October 26, expect your money to reflect in your PayPal account on November 26. Remember that holidays are not included as business days. So expect a little delay during holidays.
Benefits for Bloggers and Advertisers
Bloggers should take advantage of their blog’s Google Page Rank and Alexa Rank to make money online. The good thing about Blogsvertiser is that it allows bloggers to accept or decline a task. A blogger can decide which tasks are related to his niche and which are completely irrelevant. On the other hand, advertisers gain exposure for their products and services for a cheap price. They can expect a positive review about their product which will encourage customers to buy it.
Oct 11
24
Online jobs for high school students
Earning some extra cash from the internet is not that difficult. After all, even teenagers can do it. It’s 100% legal and will not take a lot of their time. As we know, most parents usually worry about their kids losing time for school activities once they take a part-time job. However, there is really nothing to be worried about because these home-based gigs are perfect for those who only want to work during their spare time. This means that a high school student can perform the tasks after all her homework are already done.
- Article writer. There are plenty of websites looking for individuals who can write short essays. Even a 13-year old boy can do it without pressure. Perfect for those students who love to express their thoughts and opinions through writing. It’s like doing a homework and getting paid for it. The rates vary from website to website but your teen can expect $5 to $20 for every page written.
- Online Surveys. This is recommended to children who are interested in products and services. The tasks are very simple, they just have to fill up a form online and rate brands based on their personal opinion and experiences. Products vary from gadgets, clothes, shoes, etc.
- Sell hand-made crafts in Etsy. If you are having a hard time on looking for the right job for your youngster, encourage her to create hand-crafted pieces such as crocheted pillows, miniature objects made from clay, hand-made accessories, etc. These beautiful items can be sold easily in Etsy. In this way, you are not only encouraging her to be creative, you are also teaching her to operate her very own business at a young age.
- Sell clutter in eBay. Instead of throwing away things that are no longer in use, compile everything and choose the ones that your child can still sell in eBay and other bidding sites. Old clothes and shoes that don’t fit anymore, toys that don’t have much sentimental values, etc. This is also a great way for the child to learn about buying and selling and she may even be inspired to make this as a full-time business.
- Blogging for cash. Young people love the social media. They are interested in Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. Why not inspire your children to start their own blog? This will enable them to earn extra cash from blogging which they can use for their school expenses while you get the chance to know your child better based on his writings.
There are many ways for high school students to earn money from the internet and they don’t even have to get out of their homes to work. These are usually very simple tasks that don’t consume much time. It lets them squeeze in homework and still have time for their friends and family. The earnings are modest but these will help them pay for their school supplies and miscellaneous fees.
Oct 11
23
Make videos for profit
Are you an independent movie producer? Or an amateur film maker? Or maybe you are a college student who wants to augment your income? It doesn’t really matter what kind of person you are. What’s important is that you want to do something to increase your regular earnings. Anybody can earn substantial amounts of cash by simply making highly entertaining videos.
It’s so easy, just follow these simple steps:
- First off, create a video that will capture the interest of internet users. It can be anything that involves pets, personalities, events, music, or places. Make sure the quality is high because live streaming may lessen the clarity of the images.
- Add some special effects such as sounds and special lighting to make it more interesting and amazing. Viewers are easily captured by videos that teach them new things like guitar tutorials, dancing lessons, etc. In other words, if you want to generate traffic to your channel, your content must be useful, educational and entertaining.
- Video editing is a crucial part of the process. As much as possible, try to make it short and direct to the point. For instance, if the purpose of the content is to make viewers laugh, consider to edit and delete the unnecessary parts that will only bore your audience.
Here are some of the websites that pay you for sharing your videos:
- YouTube. To monetize your channel, you need to create a Google Adsense account. But before that, you should receive an invitation from YouTube for potential partnership. This will only happen if one of your videos is generating thousands of daily hits.
- Revver. This site allows contributors to distribute videos and earn cash at the same time. If you are the original source of the video, you will get 50% of the revenues. On the other hand, if it belongs to another person or company, you will receive 20% of the total amount of earnings from that particular video.
- MetaCafe. Once your video has reached a total of 20,000 views, they will pay you $5 for every additional 1,000 views. This means that for you to be able to earn $100 from your creation, you will need a total of 40,000 unique hits.
In general, signing up with these websites is free of charge. So, what you really need to kick start this online gig is an amazing video that will be loved by millions of internet viewers. If you have what it takes to make a living by sharing videos then don’t waste this opportunity. Some people are smart enough to earn thousands of dollars every month by engaging in this type of activity.
