The internet is full of opportunities to both make and save money from home! Whether you are getting a good deal on a product that you were wanting to buy or you are a stay at home mom wanting supplemental income from a work at home job, the internet can save and make your family loads of cash.
Here are some ways you can make money online and use the income to better your life in whatever ways you see fit:
* Become a paid SEO blogger
Blogging isn’t easy but it’s not too complicated either, and a lot of companies will pay pretty good money for people to write articles for them and get them published online. They do this primarily because the articles have backlinks to the company’s site, which helps the company show up high on search engine results and gives them targeted traffic. And since so many people use search engines today for almost all of their business research needs but ignore the ads on the top (I bet even more so lately since Google recently has been putting so many ads at the top that over half the page space is ads on small screens and mobile devices). This means that it is really valuable for companies to show up high on Google’s organic results because more people will click on those than will click on the Adwords ads that are shaded a different color.
* Start your own blogging company
The real way to make money in almost any field is to build connections and start your own company. This is especially true in the search engine optimization (SEO) world where companies will pay a premium for good SEO work. If you hire other people who are good writers, those writers benefit because they may not have the connections themselves to make money. You benefit because you profit from their work. Even if you only profit $20/hour/worker, if you hire 20 employees then you make $400/hour, and that’s excluding work you do on your own with your own two hands.
* Get paid to write PR articles
You can get paid to post articles for public relations purposes. These articles will be read by actual humans and, while still containing links to your product, will not be there for the primary purpose of bumping you up on Google. Instead, the articles will be read by actual people who will be interested in them and you will make money this way.
* Build an Adsense website/blog
Google Adsense provides an easy way for marketing people who want to make money online. What you need to do is first create a niche site. These sites should be geared toward something that is commonly advertised online, such as health, fitness, and financial services products like trading. Then, you need to write articles that should be at least 500 words for these websites and write lots of them.
Make sure the article is good for ads:
In order to make money off Google Adsense, your site needs to produce ads that are relevant to things people search for. There are complex professional ways that you can figure out what keywords work, but the basic ways involve using the Google Adsense keyword tool and also using common sense. For example, consider two articles: One about “making money blogging” and one about “monetizing your blog.” The one about monetization will draw professional bloggers because they use the word “monetize” while the one about making money will draw people who do not yet blog but are looking to get into blogging.
How to write the articles:
The articles should use keywords for terms for which people have bought a lot of ads and one term should be in the title. That term should also be used in the first paragraph, especially the first 200 words, one or two times (it’s okay to break up the term as long as the words are close to each other). The keywords need to be for terms for which there are ads, so make sure to do a Google search and see that there are at least 10 or so ads for the term you’re using a lot in your article.
Those are some great ways you can use the internet to make money blogging and writing. It’s not rocket science but it’s not super easy either. You will need to do a lot of writing every day and be creative. If you can do that then you can definitely earn money online!
Posted in Blogging, Make Money Online
There are a lot of good bloggers with highly focused niches, but the authors still don’t know how to make money off of them. Almost everybody these days knows how to use Adsense ads, but there are other ways that can be used in conjunction with Adsense that you can use to make money off your website.
I’ve been in online marketing for years and I can share two great ways that you can make money off of your blog:
1) Monetizing your text
Companies like INTENTclick, Kontera, and Viglinks work in a pretty unique way: They create advertising links on text that is on your blog. When somebody’s mouse goes over one of these links, a pop-up shows up which they can then click on.
Some of the older in-text monetization companies like Infolinks only pay you for each click, but the more modern ones like INTENTclick pay you a higher rate if you have a higher conversion rate. This is great for publishers (like bloggers) because it means that they get more money, and it’s great for people trying to sell products and services online because it incentives bloggers to produce high-quality content that is aimed at people who are likely to convert farther down the sales cycle.
2) Publish an eBook
Once you have a large amount of readers on your blog (or even if you do not if you do good SEO work), you can publish an eBook, which has two main ways of making money:
* Give the eBook away for free – The most common way to make money off eBooks is to give it away for free. You ask people to provide their email address and provide other information, and inform them that they will receive information about offers, or you can have them sign up for your newsletter as a requisite for downloading your eBook. Most people do not like it if you sell their data to other companies (that’s how you would make money if you go the “special offers” route) so make sure you clearly inform them if you do that. If you send them a weekly newsletter then you can put ads in the letter but keep your trusted readers’ information private.
* Sell the eBook – Selling the eBook can work really well if you have established yourself as a trust agent and if you have an audience that is wealthy enough to buy it. Pricing can be tricky but you need to keep in mind how much money you would be making per person (on average, though there can be high variance) if you had given your book out for free. Remember that people usually use PayPal and they can take a hefty rake!
Posted in Blogging
Keywords have always been an integral part of a website’s functionality and visibility, helping to draw searchers to a company’s online world. When going global with several multilingual websites it is important to tailor the keyword research and optimization strategy to each language in question.
Simply translating what already works, usually from English, rarely achieves the best results. The terms people use to search vary from language to language (naturally), as well as from culture to culture. Investing time in researching and understanding your new customers’ keyword preferences and their culture will maximize your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) and ensure it is attracting traffic.
So How Do Keywords Work?
Keywords match the content in a website with the terms or phrases being used in search engines. As people search for a particular product or service, the websites best matching the ‘search criteria’ are listed, with the most relevant (and best optimized) appearing first.
Naturally, every website wants to be at the top of that search list (search engine results page, or SERP) and getting there requires a combination of different SEO strategies. Working the right keywords into a website’s copy is the cheapest and most effective way to increase online presence, and it applies to all websites in all languages.
Choosing The ‘Right’ Keywords
The process of identifying the ‘right’ keywords for a website can seem counter-intuitive. Rather than using technical product terminology, people tend to search the web in more day-to-day terms.
Online tools, such as Google AdWords, are great for identifying key search terms. A search for specialist tea, for example, brings up 1,300 hits; however, a search for fancy tea brings up 6,600. Where Google AdWords excels is in pointing out that special tea – not a million miles away from the first search – produces over 18,000 searches. Making the tiniest of tweaks to a website’s copy can have an impressive impact on a website’s SEO.
Google AdWords is also great for identifying market competition. Despite being almost three times as popular in searches, special tea has less than half the amount of competition that fancy tea does; so which phrase would a tea vendor best use on their website? And the principle can apply to any sector or topic; knowing how consumers search is just as important as giving them the content they want when they get to your website.
Multilingual Keywords
Exactly the same principles apply when creating a website in another language. Working with a professional localization and internet marketing agency is worth every cent and highly recommended. Simply translating a crib-sheet of English keywords is not enough, and foreign language internet marketing agencies provide the vital cultural insight and the language skills needed to guarantee optimization across all your target languages.
Key phrases can even vary between countries sharing a common language. For example, in Spain, coche is commonly used for car, whereas in Latin America, it is used for a baby-stroller. Losing potential business for such a simple mistake can be a major optimization problem.
Current and Creative Content
Keeping your website content creative and up-to-date is a given for any successful website. Blogs and news sections are great avenues to keep the website current, as well as to boost its SEO. Keep abreast of issues both internationally and locally (in the target cultures), and work the relevant keywords into topical articles; their currency helps the website’s search engine rank position and the keywords help to attract interested consumers.
Other Important Keyword Rules
Once the ‘right’ keywords have been identified, they should be incorporated throughout the website. Google prefers a keyword density of around two to four percent, so apply the power of one to your keywords; once in the title, once in the description, and once or twice within the article…and in the URL as well. But as with everything, less is more – you should aim to optimize each web page for no more than two keywords. Articles that read like a hit-list of keywords are not only boring for readers, but can be flagged-up by search engines as spam.
Honing the content of your website through a few simple language choices can truly maximize its search engine performance, and the effects can be seen surprisingly quickly!
Posted in SEO
Asking for feedback from people on social media networks can be one of the best things you could do to help your internet business grow and find more ideas to make it even better. Be prepared though because asking them for their honest opinions can often times bring out some pretty nasty things about you and your business, or even your entire industry. But that is actually a good thing because getting to know what your customers, potential customers and other people truly think, although sometimes very harsh, can be a life changing experience that will help you and your business grow to be a lot better.
It’s tough to do but you just have to not be afraid to let your guard down for a little while and ask people for feedback on social media networks. A great place to start would be Facebook. Although the opinions you get from FB might be a bit biased because the people you will be asking are typically your friends, family, business associates, industry peers, and other people close to you. But asking for honest feedback from them and then building upon it from other sources where the people might not be as close to you such as Twitter, LinkedIn, forums, and other social networking websites can be a great way to get the information you need.
Fixing the negative things you are told can often be the hardest part because you may not agree or you might take it personally. Just remember not to take criticism personally or negatively, but instead as something that is positive and will help you to grow your business by fixing your mistakes. If someone tells you that your information product (ebook) is horrible and you should never write again don’t get defensive or depressed. The best thing you can do is ask them for details on why they said that and more information on what they think the problem is so you can look into it and fix it.
Solicited Feedback:
Social media sites let you interact directly with the people who might be your potential customers or who already are your customers in a meaningful way. If you have taken the time to develop good relationships with your friends, followers, fans, and customers on social networking sites, they will be happy to help you if you ask them to. If you engage with them on a regular basis and use your social media accounts the way they are intended to be used, you should get a good response any time you ask a question, or send them a request for feedback.
Unsolicited Feedback:
The feedback you ask for can be very helpful in determining the future of your online business and internet marketing strategies, but unsolicited feedback can be much more beneficial. If you are active on social media networks, you will find that sometimes your customers and peers will send you both positive and negative business feedback without you even asking for it. Unsolicited feedback is great for two reasons… First, it’s extremely honest. Your customers are sharing their feedback with you because they truly have something to say, not because they were asked. Second, your customers might surprise you with the ideas and advice they present. They might come up with things you hadn’t thought of on your own and maybe never would have. And those ideas can help you to evolve your products, services, and overall business in a way that suits the wants and needs of your customers.
You should not be afraid of feedback whether it is positive or negative. Either way it can only help you and your business to be the best you can be. Have an open mind and wisely use the information you get, you might be surprised at how much it actually does help. Social networking sites are some of the best places to get the feedback you need. Go for it!
Posted in Social Networking
Here are some of the most common misconceptions about social networks and how they may be used by businesses.
1. My business is not the right type to benefit from social media marketing.
Many entrepreneurs have said the same thing – today, however, businesses ranging from auto mechanics to soft drink brands derive significant amounts of revenue from social networking, and the trend is on the rise.
2. Social Networks are only used by younger people.
While it’s true that the premier social networking site, Facebook, was originally exclusively for college students, for some years Facebook has been open for anyone to join. In fact, recent research shows that most users are now 35 and up, reflecting the demographics of the developed world.
3. Setting up social network marketing will be expensive.
This is a common misunderstanding. On a social network, you aren’t building a complete, functioning ecommerce site – you’re simply creating a presence – a “personality” which reflects who you are as a business. The tricky part, naturally, is in getting this right – which is where expert help can make the critical difference.
4. Maintenance of social networking pages will be time consuming and complex.
You won’t need to issue a 10 page exhaustive update of all your activities on a daily basis, but you will need to provide some updates to maintain interest. Guide the conversation and create excitement and buzz by choosing topics wisely.
5. A social networking presence is only useful for selling products.
Social networks have now become one of the most powerful and valuable sources of feedback from customers – unfortunately, nothing spreads faster than bad news in today’s networked world. Customers may not tell you about dissatisfaction on your own website or email, but they may well talk about it on Facebook. Keeping your ear to the ground is essential in today’s competitive market.
6. Blogs have no impact on business – there are simply too many bloggers online.
While it’s true that there is a large and ever-increasing number of bloggers out there, it’s still possible for a blog to have a positive impact on your business. Experts can help you choose the correct choice of subject matter and frequency of updates to ensure your blog features high in the search results for a given topic.
7. Monitoring social networks for “buzz” or “hot topics” will not make any significant difference to business.
In today’s wired world, employing a professional business partner to carry out “buzz monitoring” can be business critical. A large computer company recently found out through buzz monitoring on Facebook that there was a significant fault with one of their newest products – this early alert enabled them to replace the faulty goods and alter their manufacturing process before any further damage was done.
8. It doesn’t matter which social network I choose – they are all the same.
Choosing the correct social network to join could be the difference between success and failure. While Facebook works for many, other businesses might find the business-orientated “LinkedIn” more appropriate. A purely technology company might consider a presence in the avatar-based Second Life. There is little purpose in promoting your business in the wrong arena, which is where experts can help.
9. It’s all just a fad – social networking will soon be replaced by a new trend – why bother to get involved?
Social networking’s popularity has grown exponentially in the last 10 years. Not only this, it has changed the paradigm of how consumers and producers interact into a multi-dimensioned communal experience. Social networking is not going to go away – it’s more likely to replace the internet as we know it.
10. My business will not benefit from social networking.
To many internet users today, a business without a social networking presence simply doesn’t exist in some important senses. This trend is only likely to increase as time goes on. A business which ignores this phenomenon is liable to be seen as a dinosaur.
In conclusion, it should be clear that social networking can benefit almost any business type – but correct execution is critical, which is where expert internet marketing consultants can help.
Posted in Social Networking
