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I have been working away on this blog testing and tweaking different advertising mthods. After reading Mr Chows Monetizing Tips it gave me some great ideas.

You’ll notice some changes on the advertise page and on the right hand side I will be making some more changes. I going to try and get more of a sponsorship deal for the premium spots and rather than have rotating adverts which I know advertisers don’t like, I’m upping the prices slighty to offer one ad only spots. I’m implimenting the code from OpenAds (a savior) to other positions to test out what I can acheive with a little out of the box thinking.

If you want to make money from your traffic, you must try and squeeze as much as you can from your website or blog without intrusion to your visitors. I think this is very easily done, think like the visitor of your site. Would you like to see an advert in an annoying position? If so remove it and try something different. There are lots of options out there, some that I cannot get access too…yet. For instance, AzoogleAds and Kontera. Both of which I’m not that fussed with.

There has been a lot said over the net about Adsense lately and I for one have pulled it from this blog. This was a while back though, as I think it offers awful conversions when compared to other options out there. Google, start giving the advertiser more maybe…?

Possibly offer other ways to publish your adverts, like contextual maybe.

I’m still working hard on making the advertising options on this blog simple and cost effective, as well as easy to purchase. The Affiliate button has been up in the nav bar for a while now and I’m working on this to bring an in house Network of affiliates that will drive traffic here for a commission which means I can continue growing and improving this blog for my readers.

Thanks for staying around…watch this space, I mean blog!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Try copying John Chow now :)

John Chow recently got a new blog design. The design was done by Nate Whitehill of Unique Blog Design. I like Nate’s stuff. His designs are clean without being boring. And he offers great pricing: $599 for a complete blog design. That’s a great deal in my book. Anyways, here’s a look at John Chow’s new blog.

Pretty, huh?

He’s still got the sports car. The new design is wider, which allows him more monetization opportunities. Above the fold, he’s added a section for popular articles and a newsletter.

I’m not a designer, but I think this new design looks much better than the old one. The old theme looked boring. Plus, every other internet marketing blogger was using it to copy John.

It’s interesting to note that Nate Whitehill was the one who approached John about doing the new blog design. Here’s what John wrote:

Nate came to me with the idea of doing a new theme a week ago. I told him to do up a rough and if I like what I see, we’ll continue. As you can guess, I liked what I saw.

This is a great example of selling yourself and your skills. Good job, Nate. By landing John Chow, you should be getting a lot more work. And congrats to John. Enjoy your new blog.

What do you think of the new theme?

Popularity: 9% [?]

Popularity: 9% [?]

If you’ve done any research in internet marketing, you probably know about goal setting. You might have income goals. Maybe you want to make $3000 every month. You might have traffic goals. Maybe you want to have 10,000 visitors every month.

However, many internet marketers have problems reaching their goals. Why? I think part of the reason is they don’t take practical steps to achieve their goals. There is a lack of connection between their goals and their daily online business activities. Their macro level of business does not relate to their micro level. What you have are internet marketers doing daily actions that don’t really help them reach their goals.

Reengineering is a way to make your goals less abstract and more practical. Basically, you take a goal and work backwards until you discover daily activities to accomplish the goal.

Example

Let’s look at an example, because reengineering can be hard to explain.

In this example, you want to get in the computer programming niche. You’re passionate about computer programming, so you decide to build a computer programming website.

You set traffic goals. You only have 10 hours a week to work on your website, so you set a goal of reaching 10,000 monthly visitors in six months. This is a challenging but attainable goal. With the proper focus and work ethic, you can accomplish it.

Here’s where reengineering comes in. You take your traffic goal and begin to work backwards by asking yourself questions.

How will I get 10,000 visitors in six months? Well, I first need to figure out where the visitors will come from. Referrals or search engines?

I’ll focus on search engine traffic. I can go back to this question and consider referral traffic. But for now, my focus is on search engine traffic. So, how will I get search engine traffic?

Getting search engine traffic, broadly speaking, consists of two main principles: on-page SEO and off-page SEO. In simplified terms, on-page SEO has to do with inserting relevant keywords in your content while off-page SEO has to do with getting quality links. I’ll focus on links and think about keywords later. How will I get links?

The best way to get links is a two-step method: create something linkworthy and then promote it. I’ll focus on creating linkworthy content and put promotion on the backburner. Okay, what is linkworthy content in the computer programming niche?

I do some research in the niche and discover that tutorials get many quality links. So, I’ll write tutorials.

I decide to spend 5 hours a week writing tutorials. Why not the whole 10 hours a week? Remember that to get links, I need to market my content. Also, to get search engine traffic, I need to do on-page SEO. I’ll use the other 5 hours to work on marketing and on-page SEO.

This specific example is very simplified. I could’ve said more at each step of the reengineering thought process. I could’ve taken my last step further. What kinds of tutorials should I create? Video, audio, text? Which programming language should I write about? However, I just wanted to give a quick overview of how someone could use reengineering to discover activities that help them reach their goals.

Conclusion

To recap, reengineering helps connect your daily activities with your big picture goals. By connecting the two, you’ll have a sense of purpose and vision even in the daily grind of online business. Also, you’ll have a better chance of reaching your goals.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Popularity: 4% [?]

I got this comment from Money Maker Blogs in my post about the perils of AdSense:

Interesting post, considering that for the most part people think automatically of AdSense when thinking of monetizing their websites, but the points you make are definitely valid. I have heard many horror stories of people getting banned and losing a lot of income. But what do you suggest as an alternative to AdSense? I know there are many options out there, but what do you think is a good reliable way to monetize a website?

From my research and experience, these monetization strategies are much more profitable than AdSense:

Advertising
Whether you sell links, banners, or reviews, advertising is a great way to make money online. If you don’t want to look for advertisers, try ad brokers like ReviewMe and Text Link Ads. However, if you have a quality, well-trafficked site, you could probably get advertisers directly by creating an advertising page.

Affiliate Offers
The money you can earn selling affiliate offers depends on your niche. Here are three ways to find affiliate offers. First, think about relevant products your target audience would buy. Then, go to sites that sell those products and see if they have affiliate programs. Second, do a search for your niche affiliate program. Third, join sites like Link Share and Commission Junction and search through their affiliate offers. These sites handle the affiliate programs of many companies.

Create And Sell Your Own Product
This monetization strategy takes the most time. However, it can easily be the most profitable especially if you set up your own affiliate program.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to put different monetization methods on your website. John Chow is a great example of this. He made over $12,000 last month using 10 different methods.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Many webmasters start off monetizing their site with Google AdSense. I have nothing against AdSense. It’s easy to implement. Also, if you have some traffic already, you can see earnings quickly.

However, I believe that because AdSense is so easy to use, many webmasters don’t look into other monetization models. AdSense can make us lazy in our monetization efforts. This is unfortunate because other models make more money than AdSense. Here are some more reasons to explore non-AdSense monetization methods.

Google is a dictator.
Google is in total control of your earnings. You can lose all your AdSense accounts and earnings even though you do nothing wrong. Henry and Wilson are extreme examples of this. They were banned from AdSense and lost $200,000 in Adsense earnings!

AdSense earnings are unpredictable.
On my sites, I get clicks ranging from $.07 to $1.50. It’s hard to plan your cash flow with such big differences in click values.

Ad blindness can set in as internet users get smarter.
This is already happening in my niches. Good luck trying to monetize your graphic design blog with AdSense. Don’t even think of using AdSense on your social media blog. Certain internet users go out of their way not to click on AdSense ads. This group of people will only grow in number as the general public’s online knowledge and experience increases.

Google takes a cut.
In this podcast, Darren Rowse of Problogger found that some advertisers did not want to advertise directly with him. He realized they were already advertising on his site through AdSense. Darren removed AdSense from his site so he could get all the advertising money instead of splitting with Google.

You’ll be tempted to check your AdSense earnings every 30 minutes.
Maybe I’m the only one with this problem :) Some days AdSense is worse than email in lowering my productivity.

Further Reading

Google AdSense as a Terrible Business Model
In this blog post, Aaron Wall gives reasons why AdSense is not a good long-term business model for most small publishers.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Popularity: 6% [?]

I was inspired to write this post because of something I read from Maki at Dosh Dosh. Maki wrote about monopolies, Bill Gates, and Carlos Slim. You’ve probably heard of Bill Gates, but you may not know about Carlos Slim. Slim is the Mexican business man that recently toppled Bill Gates as the richest man in the world. According to Forbes magazine, Slim’s fortune is currently around $60 billion while Bill Gates sits at $56 billion.

Maki pointed out that both Gates and Slim grew their net worth by building monopolies. While it’s very difficult to earn as much as Gates or Slim, we can learn from them by focusing on monopolies. Here are some ways online business people can create monopolies and dominate their markets.

Find a low-competition market.
Don’t start a blog about blogging and except to create a monopoly. The competition is too high, both in quantity and quality. Many people are blogging about blogging. Two of the blogs, Problogger and Copyblogger, have over 20,000 RSS subscribers.

Research markets that you’re interested in and find one that’s untapped and underdeveloped. If you have a hard time finding one, try narrowing the market. For example, instead of creating a blog about making money through blogs, create one about affiliate marketing through blogs.

Here’s another example. If you have a passion for personal finance, don’t build a site about personal finance. Instead, build a personal finance site targeting a more specific market like college students, moms, or young professionals.

Pick a profitable market.
You want to make money, right? :) Most industries should have statistics about their market. Find out if the market has grown over the last couple of years. Find out how much money is spent in the market.

Create a lot of bookmark-worthy content before you launch your site.
The reason for this is that you want to spend much of your time marketing your site instead of creating content. Create content that people will want to link to and bookmark.

Launch big.
Send out press releases. Email bloggers. Visit forums. Contact webmasters with related sites. Submit your best stuff to social media sites. Interview the major players in your industry. Your goal is to launch so big that possible competitors will be intimidated and not want to compete with you. You want to create the perception that your site is an authority and reference point in your niche.

If you did your market research well, you should get a lot of links and traffic because you’re targeting an untapped market.

Keep learning about your market as it matures and grows.
Build and strengthen relationships with the important people in your niche. If you have a blog, offer to blog about their companies for free. In return, you should be able to get insider news from them. This allows to break important news before other webmasters, further establishing your site as an authority. Also, keep up with the latest trends and developments of your market.

Continue publishing quality content.
Take what you’ve learned and use it to publish more quality content.

Don’t tell other online business people about your site.
Oftentimes the biggest advantage is the knowledge of an profitable, low-competition niche. I know of wealthy internet marketers that will not give away their niches. Learn more by reading Aaron Wall’s short post, The Importance of Hiding Success on a Competitive Network.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

In my opinion, thorough market research is neglected by many online business people. This is probably due to the impersonal nature of the internet. In an offline business, you feel the need to do market research because you’re interacting with customers face-to-face. In an online business, you often don’t interact with customers on a personal level. For many of us, we write for our sites and then see money in our Paypal account. However, don’t forget about the personal level. Robots don’t spend money online, people do.

For example, let’s say you want to start a weight loss site. You could plan to write weight-loss articles and then put up Google AdSense and affiliate links. Or you could take it a step further and research your target audience before creating your site.

Do keyword research. As you do keyword research, you might find out many people are searching for a new diet pill. So, you learn more about the pill and do a review on it.

Hang out at weight loss forums. As you read forum posts, you find out specific reasons why people want to lose weight. You might learn there are many people who want to lose weight because they want to fit into a smaller swimsuit. So, you write an article entitled “Fit Into Your Dream Swimsuit With These 7 Methods”. Also, you might find out many people want to lose weight to increase their energy. So, you create a list of low-calorie foods that increase energy.

Visit high traffic blogs. Find out which blog posts get a lot comments. I like using this criteria, because a well-commented post touched an strong need. You might see a well-commented post about the struggle to follow a diet while eating out. So, you write an article on weight loss tips when eating out.

Conclusion

Learn so much about your target audience that you know their needs. Then, create content and recommend products that meet those needs. That’s good business in a nutshell.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Popularity: 5% [?]

I’m guessing some of you have day jobs but want to fire your boss. Lifehack has a nice post about 10 things to consider before quitting your job and running your business full-time. I took their tips and applied them to online business. The bolded sentences are from Lifehack while the other sentences are my comments.

1. There is a good product or service offering in place.
Your site must be an authority site in your niche. Your site has a good reputation. People know about your site. It gets many links naturally from quality sites.

2. There are real customers.
Advertisers are knocking at your door. In fact, they’re willing to get on a waiting list. If you have a blog, you have many RSS subscribers. You get a huge amount of traffic from referrals and direct type-ins. Don’t rely on search traffic. The next Google update could easily wreck you.

3. There is enough money in the bank to sustain a prolonged dry spell.
It takes time to fully develop most online businesses. There will months with high earnings and months with low earnings. Make sure you have a good chunk of change before relying on the cash flow from your site.

4. The business becomes more enjoyable and satisfying than the job.
This is not a problem for many of us :) Just make sure you have passion for your niche. You don’t want to go from one job you don’t enjoy to another job you don’t enjoy.

5. The product or service offering is not being trampled by a major competitor.
Do you truly have a purple cow site? Or can a big corporation drop a copycat site in your niche and steal your traffic?

6. The business will not likely go broke within three to five years.
Do you have a long-term plan for your online business? Are you in a niche that will dry up in a couple of years? Or are you in a niche that has good long-term potential?

7. You develop the self discipline it takes to tough it out in your own business.
If you don’t have a boss, it can be difficult to stay motivated. Do you have a system in place that helps you stay productive?

8. You have become an expert in your chosen area.
If you have a lot of experience and knowledge in your niche, you can leverage that to higher profits. Also, you’ll be more credible.

9. You have enough of the right “friends” in the area.
Have you done much networking in your niche? This includes bloggers, advertisers, and experts. Business contacts can make or break your online business. Find like-minded people, work together to bring value to your niche, and your business will become more sustainable and profitable.

10. You have key mentors and advisors in place.
There’s not a lot of talk about mentors in the online business arena. However, mentors are a stable in the offline business world. Mentors are there to give business guidance. If you don’t have a mentor, interview someone more experienced than you and start building a relationship with them.

Source: How to build your business before quitting your day job

Popularity: 3% [?]

Popularity: 3% [?]

Measurement is one of the most important business principles. A well-known business saying goes something like this: If you can’t measure it, then you can’t manage or improve it. And much of business is managing and improving.

What if you’re a blogger? How can you measure blogging?

I found this interesting system of measuring blogging productivity. It’s called The Passionate Blogger - Blog Points System.

Basically, you set a goal to reach a certain number of points each day or week. Then, you strive to earn points in these following ways.

• write a long blog post — 10 points
• write a short blog post — 5 points
• comment on a site I’ve commented on before — 2 points
• comment on a site I’ve never commented on before — 5 points
• respond to comments on my blog — 1 point
• install a new feature/plug-in, etc. — 10 points
• email another blogger with a link to a relevant post — 2 points
• IM conversation with a blogger in my niche — 3 points
• answer a reader’s question via email — 2 points
• submit post to a blog carnival — 5 points
• partner with another blogger — 10 points
• create promotional things for your visitors to use — 5 points
• create a plan for a blueprint or series of articles — 20 points
• submit a post to Digg and/or StumbleUpon — 1 point
• set up a profile on a social networking site — 10 points
• submit your site to a directory/search engine — 2 points

This blog points system is also in Excel spreadsheet (Excel file). Since it’s in this format, you can easily modify the points per activity and add or delete blog activities.

How do you measure your blogging productivity?

Source: Passionate Blogger - Blog Points System

Popularity: 3% [?]

Popularity: 3% [?]

Many people are trying start commercially-oriented websites just because they heard you could make money online. These people oftentimes find out about the high profit niches (like travel, mortgages, and credit cards) and then create sites in those niches. There’s nothing wrong with following the money. It’s actually a great business strategy. However, if you have no passion for your niche, no one will visit your site.

I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. I created websites in niches I wasn’t passionate about. Soon, I got bored. Then, I got frustrated because I wasn’t getting traffic or revenue. I had the wrong mindset of good business.

Now I’ve realized that passion is so important. Passion gives you the motivation to research your target audience and find out what they really want. Passion gives you the motivation to offer relevant solutions to your audience. If you’re not passionate about a niche, you need to hire someone who is. Or you need to stop thinking about the money and start developing a passion for your niche.

Are you actually interested in your niche? Or do you just want to make money?

Popularity: 5% [?]

Popularity: 5% [?]