StartupBooster.com

How I made 200% Return on the Internet within 2 Hours

Guna — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:26:23 +0000

To Make Money on the Internet, you need to know where to look for opportunities. You can only make money online, if you stay on top of things. I have always said, opportunities don’t land on your desk… You got go to out and find them.

I thought I would share a story with all of you today. Most of you know that I am a big fan of online real estate – domain names being one of them.

After a few months of break, recently I’ve stumbled upon a domain auction on NamePros.com forum. I am not going to name the domain names here to protect the privacy of the buyer but I thought it was an interesting experience.

So when I saw the auction, I sort of figured out the value of the domain names that are up for auction. These domain were in the LLLL dot com niche. We can touch on this point later but this is a pretty decent niche to be in right now.

I’ve valued the domain names to be about $100 to $125 per name. These are QUAD premium LLLL dot com domain names. Yes they are undervalued at this time and I am sure by the time we come out of this recession, these names will fly upwards of $xxx or even in the $x,xxx range.

I’ve place my initial bid and then waited for others to take a stab at it. Time went by and the domain names reached about $100 each. As always I waited for the clock to run out… I placed my bids at my preferred price. I won the auction. I bought two domain names within my estimated price. I thought it was a good deal…

I went to bed… woke up next morning and saw a few private messages in my account. One of them is from a potential buyer for the very two domain names I’ve won the night before.

He offered me twice the amount of what I’ve paid for them. Keep in mind, I didn’t even complete the transaction with the current owner. Although my guts was telling me the domain names must worth a lot more than what he was asking for, I thought I would sell them if I get a better deal from this individual. Hence I told him that I will only sell them for $500 each. Now that is 500% return on investment for each domain name. Obviously he knew what I’ve paid for the domains the night before, so he came back and offered $300 per. I took it and closed the deal.

Why am I talking about this here?

Like I said before, money making opportunities on the internet does exist. There are plenty of them but sometimes you have to go look for them. I wanted to share this good news story with you to motivate you to keep an eye out for opportunities. Go make money on the internet!

Was this a fluke?

Well no… maybe how I sold it could sound like a fluke but when I invested in the domain names, I knew there is a higher value to them. I have done my homework. I knew if I was lucky enough to win them within my estimates, I can hold on to them and flip them later for a much higher price.

Why did I take the 200% return rather than holding on to the names?

Well this one was an exception. I wasn’t in a working mode. I came back to this niche after a long break. I thought I would just sell and then reinvest the money back in more domains.

What is a LLLL dot com market?

LLLL stands for four character domain name. Fortunately there are only about 455000 dot com domains of this kind available on the internet. Majority of them are registered and are taken by end users. Therefore the speculators only have a limited number of domain names to play around with. End of 2008 all of the LLLL dot coms were registered. At that time the LLLL dot com market was hot. People were just speculating and buying up anything that comes on the market regardless of the quality.

Then the recession hits the world. Many of these speculators didn’t have the resources to renew these domain names during the summer of 2009 and onwards… hence the market fell just like every other financial market in the world. It is picking up momentum again. There are very good sales in this niche lately. Remember, I sold two!

To Make Money on the Internet, you just have to read more of my stories… stay tuned…

An interview with Mr. Martin Zwilling, CEO and Founder of Startup Professionals

Guna — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:35:33 +0000

Over the weekend I had the privilege to interview Martin Zwilling, CEO & Founder of Startup Professionals. He is also a Callaman Ventures Board Member and Executive in Residence; Advisory Board Member for multiple startups; Arizona Angels Selection Committee; Entrepreneur in Residence at ASU and Thunderbird School of Global Management.

I have known Martin since August of 2009. I have emphasized again and again on my previous postings how important it is to reach out to your peers within your niche. I’ve reached out to Martin and asked him to share my post, 21 Words All Entrepreneurs Must Eliminate To Be Successful, with his readers. Not only he got back to me right away, he also agreed to share my post with his followers on Twitter. Since then Martin and I kept in touch.

Martin has a lot of experience with startups. I thought it would be beneficial to all of you to hear from him. Below are few questions I’ve asked Martin. Martin also helps many entrepreneurs through is blog, Startup Professionals Musings. He blogs daily on various topics to help today’s entrepreneurs.

In your opinion, what does it take to be an entrepreneur in today’s world? (new technology, internet, etc).

The first challenge for any entrepreneur is to identify a real “need,” and then build a solution. Too many invent or fall in love with a “technology,” and assume everyone will want it. That’s a “solution looking for a problem,” and these usually fail. The second challenge is to make a business out of it – how do you make money?; who will buy it?, etc. The Internet social networking model, like Facebook, has convinced people that most things ought to be free, with businesses making money on the advertising. That model doesn’t work for small start-ups, and makes it tough for them to survive.

How difficult is it for an online entrepreneur to get initial funding through an angel investor (any investor)?

Getting initial funding from angels or any professional investor is very difficult. All now expect you to have something already, like a product built, a few customers to prove the business model, and significant “skin in the game.” That means initial funding usually comes from the entrepreneur, or FFF (friends, family, and fools). The myth that you can sketch out an idea on a paper napkin, and investors will throw money at you, is gone (unless you have a successful track record several times over, or a rich uncle who is an investor)!

What does it take to secure funding in today’s internet world?

In today’s internet world, you still need to start with a written business plan, and a strong team. Investors actually fund people first, a good plan second, and the idea last in priority. In all cases, networking to find investors is very important. Emailing your idea to hundreds of investors, or using Twitter and Facebook, is a waste of everyone’s time. Go to local business association meetings, talk to executives and potential investors, and ask their help to get an introduction to VCs, Angels, and potential business partners.

Who will they be competing against?

You compete against a thousand other peers, because the entry cost of providing a solution on the Internet keeps going down. Years ago, it cost a million dollars to develop a reasonable e-commerce site, now web design tools and platforms allow you to do it for a few thousand dollars. That’s both good news, and bad news, since almost anyone can jump into the game. Of course, you also compete against the “big gorillas” of the Internet, like Google, Yahoo, Travelocity, and many others. If they see you are getting traction with your new idea, they can jump in quickly with huge resources and kill you.

What is the one area that an entrepreneur MUST focus more on when writing a business plan?

I look first for a clear definition of the problem being addressed, and how your solution relieves the pain. Most business plans I see start right out talking about their solution, and how everyone will “want” one. “Nice to have” is not good enough – you can’t create real change until the pain level is high enough. The first page of your business plan better be your “elevator pitch” and it better have the “grabber” or investors won’t look for page 2.

In your view, how can an online start-ups get funding and where should they go to get it?

In my view, a lot of online start-ups don’t need funding, because the entry cost is so low. If they start by asking for $500K or $1M, they won’t get it, and they will lose all credibility, because it shouldn’t cost that much. In general, online start-ups should go to friends and family first, and then to local Angel groups if their needs are greater than $100K, but less than $1M. Angel groups are easily found online through www.angelsoft.net.

Do you get a lot of online start-ups for your help?

Yes, I talk to many of these. Often they just need pointers to resources, like how to incorporate, or how to build a business plan, or where to find Angels. These are the questions I try to answer with my blog articles, or via email, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. Sometimes they need real help writing a business plan, or making sure it’s adequate for funding discussions with investors. That’s what I do.

If you want to leave one message with entrepreneurs, what would that be?

I think the Internet is a huge opportunity for new entrepreneurs – it doesn’t cost so much to start, it’s changing rapidly so there is a great acceptance of new and better ways of doing things, and it scales instantly to worldwide, so the potential is unlimited.

Do you have any businesses online that generates revenue? What was your first effort online in business?

My current business, Startup Professionals, Inc., is an online mentoring and consulting business that is my revenue stream. This is my first online business, but I have had “brick and mortar” businesses, as well big-company executive experience with IBM, First Data Corp, Fujitsu, and others.

How much time do you spend on the internet daily?

I spend at least a couple of hours a day, sometimes much more, writing blog articles, answering questions on Twitter and Facebook, and trying to absorb the wealth of information that rolls out daily from all the other online sources.

How did you get started? And what was your first gig?

Many years ago, I was on the team that developed the IBM PC, so I’ve been on the Internet since it started. I really only started mentoring entrepreneurs and start-ups a few years ago as part of my “give back” to local universities and business groups. It was so much fun that I decided to start my own company Startup Professionals, to see if I could make it a business. I’m a strong believer that your business should be fun. My first gig was joining the Advisory Board of a local new job site for Baby Boomers.

What would your advice be for someone looking to make money on the internet?

My advice is that making money should be part of everyone’s motivation, but it should not be the primary motivation. Your primary motivation should be to solve some people’s problem, show people a better way, and get a sense of satisfaction. If your primary motivation is to get rich, you may be short-changed.

Make Money Online – Internet Marketers Challenges with Building Backlinks

Guna — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:44:21 +0000

This is the final chapter of a 10 part series on Challenges faced by Internet Marketers. In the previous nine chapters, I’ve covered a lot of ground on internet marketing. I hope you had the chance to read them. If you haven’t, I encourage you to read them before reading this final chapter.

As an internet marketer, it’s highly likely that you’ve come across concepts such as search engine optimization and back links more than once. Since the first time people realized that they can make money online, the virtual market has completely changed.

These days you can make money on the internet not only though placing ads on website but also through making your website visible to many search engines (ex. Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.). For internet marketers to make money online, they have to attract as much potential clients as possible. In this case, ranking in search engines has been one of the most lucrative forms of marketing.

Millions of people are using search engines and to rank high in the page results means getting as much visitors to see you. However, to be able to rank high, you should understand how search engine optimization or SEO works.

Basically, SEO deals with putting in related keywords on the site and linking it from other networks to increase its credibility and relevance. The main building blocks of such are: keywords and back linking. These two components can either help you succeed making money online or the opposite. Read on to find out how you can.

What is a backlink?

A back link refers to an inward link directed to your website. This inward link may have or may not have a corresponding outward link. For instance, page A is linked to page B. The link that directs back from page B to page A is called the backlink.

Another example would be finding a useful article online and displaying a link on your website. Your website becomes the backlink for the article. Basically, any link which is not from the original website and that connects to another is considered the backlink.

If you’re going to use a backlink it’s also important that you know how to check how many sites have linked back to your own. Since you’re going to use it for the business, the number of backlinks should give you an idea on how useful your site has become.

One way to do so is through Back link Checker tool or iWebtool Backlink Checker. There are many other paid ones but for this purpose, these free tools are sufficient.

Backlinks are very important because they can contribute to your search engine ranking. The better rank you get the better chances that you have to make money on the internet.

What is the significance of backlinks?

Backlinks are important because their frequency determines how popular or relevant your website has become. Backlinks are essential in optimizing a website. For instance, Google usually gives credits to a website with a considerable number of backlinks.

The search engine tends to consider websites with more backlinks as relevant as opposed to websites with just a few. A website with a good number of backlinks often earns a good rank in the search page results.

However, search engines do not consider the number of backlinks alone. The inbound links should also be of quality. This means that it’s not enough for a website to get backlinks from random sites. Link juice, which is a commonly used term in SEO will be low if you are one of 100 links on a page. Link juice will be much high if you are the only outbound link from a page.

Search engines also evaluate the content of the linked website to see whether the link is made because the content of the original site is relevant or it was just linked for the purpose of increasing the number of backlinks. Only sites with similar and relevant content are considered. The more relevant the website is to your own site the higher the quality of the inbound link and the more credits you can get from search engines.

If your website is about dogs or dog products then the sites linking back to you should also be about dogs instead of random things like car racing. In other words if you are getting links from relevant sources, then your link juice will be high.

Since backlinking to other sites is simply easy, search engines have raised the level of credits in their search page results. Anyone can simply gain a considerable amount of backlink given the number of websites online.

However, getting backlinks from the same relevant site is another thing. It takes hard work and considerable amount of time to build such network. The purpose of search engines raising the level of backlink credits is to provide a more accurate and relevant results.

Clearly, there’s no point in raising the rank of a website with backlinks scattered at random sites. The business owner may just be the one behind it and people might not actually find the site helpful. This also helps prevent any sneaky and fraudulent strategies that some “scammers” may have up their sleeves.

Why quality matters for backlinks?

Aside from getting higher page points and a higher page rank, backlinks are also important because it helps attract more visitors to your site. This is very important to entrepreneurs because you need just as much traffic as possible to make the sales.

Since backlinks are linked to other relevant sites, they also ensure that they attract your targeted market. Basically, you can’t launch a site and expect people to just find it. As a marketer, it is your job to point the way and be seen.

How to build backlinks?

There are several ways to build backlinks for your site, these include:

Article marketing

The best way to market your article is through article submission. Commonly, article databases allow you to provide a link back to your site for every article that you pass and get published. Make sure that the quality of the article is really good because if the quality of your articles is really good, other sites will also use your content as reference. You can get a significant number of backlinks to your site.

Hubpages/Squidoo

You can develop your content using such. Usually, these sites are for informational articles. Thus, if the pages you have here links back to your site, you also get a quality backlink.

Backlink Builder Tool

Since it’s important to have high quality inward links, you have to be able to find networks similar to your own. This tool can help you find websites with similar themes to your own. This can considerably help you trim down the amount of your work you need to build a good network of sites. Link – Backlink Builder Tool.

Blog Commenting

You can gain good amount of backlinks by just participating in blogs that are in your niche. You leave a relevant comment along with your URL. Most blogs allow a link back to your site as part of comments.

Forum Posting

You can also participate in relevant forums and gain backlinks as part of your forum signature.

Why a support group/buddy system is important for marketing?

A support group is important in developing quality backlinks. They can function as both your colleagues and competitors. Basically, these are the same people or websites within your niche.

Through this support group you can each link your site to each other. This is considered a quality link in most cases because the support group also has the same theme in their websites.

It’s like a marketing community. However, it is important to maintain the quality of sites. Google and other search engines are very stringent these days when it comes to reciprocal linking. It’s important that the mutual agreement does not sacrifice the quality of the content.

Make sure to take these things into consideration. To make money online, you have to be able to develop a good solid reputation and presence in the market.

In today’s social media market, it is good to have a buddy system. You can rely on them to pass your sites/content on to their followers. It will definitely help you get quality traffic to your site and also expose you to search engines, etc.

Make Money Online – Communication Challenges Faced by Internet Marketers

Guna — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:45:02 +0000

This is chapter nine of a 10 part series on Challenges Faced by Internet Marketers. If you have not read the previous chapters, I encourage you to read them before you read this article.

It’s always amusing to find really bad ideas or concepts which are not exactly groundbreaking to have such profound effect on the masses. Often, you wonder how such ideas receive good reception despite being ordinary.

Well, it’s all about marketing. Regardless of the idea, if there’s a good marketing team behind it then anything can be a sensation. There are so many pioneering and really good ideas that have gone down the drain because of bad publicity.

This ought to show you just how important marketing is to the world of business. You can successfully make money online through good publicity. Your ideas, even if they are extremely unique and better than what are currently out, will simply fail to create an impact if you don’t know how to communicate it to people.

In this day and age where competition is extremely stiff among companies, it’s important to invest on effective communication. Effective communication ensures that your chances at making money online.

Ever wonder why some politicians are so popular and close to masses while some, despite being more intelligent, are not? It’s because they are good communicators.

They are good at talking to people and reaching out to them. As an internet marketer, it’s very important that you gain the interest of many. If you can’t draw people in, you won’t be able to make money on the internet. You have to learn how to communicate properly.

If you can talk well to people, they’ll easily see your point. In terms of marketing, they will certainly understand why your product or service is good and why they should purchase it. If you have good communication skills, the better chances you have at convincing people.

How to get around communication challenges?

Internet marketers need to address communication challenges in order to make money on the internet. Without proper understanding, it’s impossible to have people see the importance of your product. The following tips should be able to help you conquer some of the communication challenges.

Know Your Audience

This is the basic rule for all communication approaches. If you don’t know who you’re talking to, how will you approach them and communicate with them? Different types of audiences have different preferences.

Some may be receptive to a certain communication medium while others aren’t. Knowing your audience will help you determine how you’ll align and develop your communication strategies. It will also give you an idea on what to say.

Select a target market and see how this people behave towards a certain medium. From there devise your own approach. That is, you should not be limited to just one approach.

Use Different Approaches

If you really want to make money online, you have to be persistent. Often, people won’t get easily convinced with just one try. Aside from coming up with a really good content, effective communication also means reinforcement.

Certainly, you don’t often see people rushing to stores just because they saw one commercial. In many cases, it’s the repeated exposure to TV ads, posters and billboard advertisements that convinces a person to buy.

The more you advertise and use different approaches, the more curious a person will get. If they repeatedly see or read something, they’ll surely get tempted to see and try it out. In online marketing, you can use newsletters and emails to send regularly to your visitors.

People have different responses and behavior towards different types of materials. Try to see which communication strategy draws in a lot of people. This should help you determine which strategies you should improve to attract more people.

Delivery Mechanisms

Aside from emails, newsletters and website content, there are other forms of communication besides written content. You can use video, audio and graphics to spice up your content. Usually, these components add more appeal and even credibility to what you say.

There are some people who are not as fond to read content so providing them with alternatives should be beneficial to your reputation. You can also try to emphasize concepts by playing with the text. You can highlight, bold or upsize words to create a dramatic effect.

Professional Website/Blog

What better way to talk and reach out to more people than to publish your own professional website and blog? Through your website, you can advertise what you want people to know. You can expound of these things and related concepts through a professional blog.

A blog adds a more personal touch to your business. This should help you create a more solid relationship with your customers and potential client.

Basically, the goal is to communicate better and constantly to your potential clients. If you often try to reach out to them, the better chances you have at building a good relationship.

Hire a Professional Writer

If writing content and devising content for audio and video presentations are simply not just within your area of expertise then it’s best to leave to it a professional writer. Creating your own content without prior experience or knowledge can lead to devastating results.

While some have their luck, making money online is a serious business so taking so much risk is not recommended. If you have a professional writer, it’s likely that your content will really be of high quality.

A professional writer has the necessary qualifications and training over the matter so you’ll definitely do your business a favor if you hire one. However, be careful in choosing a writer. Make sure that you test them before hiring them. There are fraudulent providers out there so it’s best to be sure.

Effective communication is crucial to marketing. Publicity is best achieved if you know how to reach out to people, talk to them and draw them in. If people are well aware of you and your business, there’s a higher chance that you can sell what you offer.

Marketing is what keeps the ball rolling for the business. If people are continuously informed, you can establish a solid reputation in the market with a loyal fan base. Make sure that you continuously read on different communication strategies because trends are always changing.

Make Money Online – Internet Marketers Challenge with Having the Right Product

Guna — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:01:19 +0000

This article is chapter 8 of a 10 part series on Challenges faced by Internet Marketers. If you have not read the previous chapters, I urge you to read them before you read this article.

Making money online means you have to sell something. You won’t make money on the internet if you will not offer something that people can pay for. This is mainly the concern of the topic for this internet marketing series that we have been discussing for the past several days.

The success of your business will ultimately depend on your internet marketing strategies and predominantly the kind of product that you are advertising. If you market the right product and make sure that the ball keeps rolling in terms of advertisements and publicity then success won’t be a problem.

You can easily make money online with the right product. However, the biggest challenge in choosing a product is that there are a whole lot of choices that it might be overwhelming to find the right one.

It’s important that you choose wisely because not all products sell. A product that sounds good doesn’t mean it will sell. A product that did well in the past doesn’t mean it will sell today.

An important consideration in choosing a product is the niche you’re involved in. As much as possible choose a product that is extremely relevant to your niche. Make sure that it’s also a practical product. It should be something that a lot of people interested in your niche will find useful.

Nonetheless, there are several criteria that you can check with to see if the product is a good thing to market. Choosing the right product will definitely help you successfully make money on the internet.

Choosing the Right Product to Sell Online

In order to see which product is the best for your business try to consider the following factors:

The Product is in-demand

Certainly, something that is highly popular won’t be hard to sell. Try to search what products are often high in demand. However, make sure that the product is not just a fad. Fad items are usually just popular for a period of time and soon their demand will considerably decrease.

Be careful of products which have just recently gained attention. See if their utility is not temporary. This should give you an idea on whether a product will just become a fad or not. It’s also good to see which products have been in the market for long.

Consumable

Usually, consumable items are good products to sell. Since they are consumable, people will have to buy every time it runs out. This should ensure that clients buy from you again.

Consumable products can also ensure you a steady flow of income since customers have to buy repeatedly. Nonetheless, make sure that the product is of quality because that would ensure your steady sales.

Reasonably Priced

While selling expensive products may be tempting, often the best sellers are the more affordable ones. Since the rich only constitutes a small percent of the world population, it’s best to target the larger market. If you want to make money online regularly then offer something that people can also buy regularly.

Especially if you are referring to an affiliate program like Amazon, you may be surprised to find that a lot of your customers that you refer to Amazon may end up buying some other products than the one you’ve referred them to. This has been the case for me many times. This is the beauty about online marketing!

So if you choose reasonably priced products and refer the customer to an affiliate site, they may end up spending a lot more. A win win for everyone involved.

Fits your Niche that you are working in

The niche you’re involved mean usually means that your expertise or interests or both lies within that area. Likewise, it’s best to promote something that is relevant to your niche. It should be easier to publicize something that you already have an idea or interested about. You’ll be more convincing in this way.

Quality product

Quality product sells. It is the core of any successful company. For you to sell, people should be extremely satisfied with your product. A quality product also gives you the right to promote it and convince people why it is the right choice. This helps build your credibility.

Types of Products that You can Sell Online

Aside from learning the different criteria to which products should be evaluated against, it’s also major decision to consider selling a digital product or a physical item.

Digital

Pros: Digital products are a lot easier to handle. It requires little man power. As long as you have a computer and the necessary software and application then you’re good to go. They’re also relatively popular regardless of the niche or the target market.

Cons: Digital products are extremely reliant on digital technology. They also require constant upgrade. The competition for digital products is so intense that it’s possible to see newer and better products even after just a few days of releasing your version.

Physical

Pros: Unlike digital products, it usually takes some time before newer products or editions of an item are released. Since assembly and production are still crucial, you’ll have enough time to come up with better products before competitors can really leverage the competition once again. While the advent of computers has changed the way people live, still most people use a lot more physical products than digital ones. You have a very big market for physical products.

Cons: You need manpower. While you may not be the one producing, still you need to take of shipment, delivery and arrangement of stocks. Some physical products also tend to wear out if not dispatched over a certain period of time.

Conclusion

In making money online, you have to understand a lot of things. The foremost would be to understand your customers. If you cannot understand your customers then your business will definitely fail.

They are your lifeline. As long as they patronize you, your business will be alive. Certainly, you won’t be able to offer anything that they can use or will patronize if you don’t understand them.

You have to determine what products are essential for them. Only when you understand your target customers will you be able to narrow down your list of product choices. If you understand them, you’ll be able to offer what they need.

Nonetheless, aside from understanding your potential customers, you also have to make sure that the product you choose falls within certain boundaries. Knowing what your client needs is not enough. You have to offer something that can surpass their expectations.

This will help you seal a good solid relationship with them. Choosing the right product takes a lot of thought and you should not rush into things just because you want to make money online fast. Hurried decisions will not get you anywhere.

Again it is trial and error. You shouldn’t be afraid to try something and if it doesn’t you need to move on to some other product. As you build your business online, I am sure you will figure out the right products quicker next time.

Here are few articles that I’ve written before that would help you with this topic:

51 Reasons Why You Should Not Be Afraid to Fail or to Make Mistakes

Entrepreneur: How to Go From Failure to Success

Niche Marketing Research: Finding Your Niche Market

Make Money Online – Internet Marketers Challenges with Creating Content

Guna — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:46:34 +0000

This is chapter seven of a 10 part serious on “Challenges Faced by Internet Marketers.” If you haven’t read the previous six chapters, please go here to read it – 10 Biggest Challenges Faced by Internet Marketers.

There are many techniques and platforms used in internet marketing. From publishing blogs to advertising to other sites, it all boils down to your content. Regardless of what online platform you will use, you will have to develop content.

You have to create what you will say to other people. However, although content is a primary concern to make money on the internet, there are still internet marketers who find it quite challenging.

This may have something to do with allotting time and juggling internet marketing tasks. If you’re planning to make money online then it’s best that you work on your content.

A good content is what convinces people to buy from you. Regardless of how much or how little you know about the niche you just became involved in, there are many ways you can develop content for your site. Read on to find out how.

What is Content in Today’s Internet world?

There are many types of content in the virtual world. The internet market is crowded with so many social media tools and even publishing sites that people can actually provide and update what they want to say on a regular basis. It may be professionally or casually written.

It really doesn’t matter. There are so many platforms a person can use to share to the world what they have to say. In your case, it’s important to distinguish which type of content can help you with marketing and with making money online.

You have to constantly update your site/brand with content so it’s best to learn the options you have. Different types of web content include:

Blogs

Blogs usually tend to have a more personal approach. Since most people use it as a means to express their personal thoughts, opinions, emotions and experiences, it became a way for people to learn more about a person despite the geographic location.

You can use blogs to update your personal ideas and talk personally to the kind of market you want to target. Talking to potential consumers in a personal way may in fact be more beneficial. It’s easier to build trust and credibility if people find that they can actually interact with you.

Videos

A video is considered as an interactive approach that lets you play more with your imagination and creativity. Videos are used for different things: advertisements, leisure, tutorials and even in advocacy. In today’s world, the leader of the pack is YouTube.

If people want to learn or find out about something aside from reading content online, they refer to videos. Some people actually find it easier to view messages in such format because they tend to be precise and entertaining. If you want for people to appreciate you more, it’s a good idea to create a video that can both entertain and educate people.

Pictures/images

Pictures and images are also considered valuable content in today’s virtual world. They help break the monotony of texts and provide a better idea of what the text is talking about.

Pictures/images are great for aesthetic and publicity purposes. If it’s not possible to put up videos, pictures/images can help sketch out the message.

Twitter

People on the go and busy usually prefer twitter over other platforms. They get to update their status (limited to less than 140 characters) and see what other people are also doing. Twitter allows attachment such as links, photos and even videos as a link within the short text they get to update. This can also be considered micro-blogging. A quick way to post your thoughts in simple plain language rather than writing paragraphs like this article.

Slideshare

SlideShare is a categorized as a business media site where people and organizations can share their documents, presentations and even pdf files. It allows people to comment regularly on some contents uploaded, it also allows marking uploaded presentations and files as favorites.

It provides a download function and social media links like LinkedIn. Files uploaded may also be featured in Twitter and Facebook depending on the preferences of the individual. Usually companies use Slideshare to generate leads and help them attract customers.

Facebook

Facebook is today’s largest social media network. With more than 400 million users, people can virtually share anything using Facebook. The “status” boxes, “like” functions and even applications have revolutionized how people can interact with each other.

People can share their approval or thoughts on whatever a persons posts. From pictures, notes, videos, photos (where you can tag other people) and even links and websites. There’s no limit to amount and kind of info you can share other people.

Your Website

Is another form of content where you are mainly in charge of everything. From design, ads, content and even functions. You get to design how you want to appear to people.

Having No Time to Create Content

For sites that are too busy to even plan and create really high quality content, they often stick to the usual news releases and regular site updates on business. However, you if you really want to make money on the internet, you have to do better than that.

Go beyond the status quo and take advantage of social media marketing and true content marketing. Content creation is something that should be done regularly and should be one of your concerns. You can’t simply say that there are others you have to do in marketing because content is the driving force of any marketing strategy. Learn to treat content as your first priority.

You can consult or hire a third party to help you with content. There are many providers offering content services at affordable prices. You can conceptualize what you want to say and have someone do it for you. Content creation and update should be on a regular basis if you want to keep afloat in this competitive arena.

How to Create Rich Content

The content you have on your site or other links will usually be the first thing that a prospective customer will see. For you to create a good impression it’s very essential that you have quality content ready. If you want to sell and make money online then try to project an air of professionalism.

Let people realize that you know what you’re knowledgeable in the field. Quality content gives potential clients the reassurance that they are dealing with a credible person or entity.

Keep you content informative and extremely relevant. Keep updating because this will draw people back and they will want to know more. Always consider providing value.

You don’t just promote, you provide people with quality content that will also serve as good added knowledge. If people don’t see anything relevant, they’ll just go elsewhere. You have to be honest and be participative in the niche you’re involved in. This will help you build credibility.

Don’t create content just because you need to, create it because it’ll be the life of your business. It’ll tell people who you are and why they should trust you.

This goes without saying that content should be written with impeccable grammar and prose and spelling. Poor writing skills can contradict the kind of value you’re trying to project.
How to come up with new content

The best way to gain knowledge and come up with idea for your content is to actively participate in your niche community. Read on relevant information and see what people are currently talking about. If you know what’s happening and what people still need to know then you can come up with a content that both showcases and addresses such. Browse through different blogs with the same areas of concern.

Go over the comments and see if a user has contributed valuable information or asked for something. The blog comments can easily be your next content. This will not only attract people but it will also tell them that you are well aware of their concerns.

Other means you can develop content from, include:

Forum posting

Many forum topics are extremely relevant. See which topics are greatly attracting a lot of participation from users and make that your own content. Since forums are limited, you can eventually provide a new platform where people can learn more.

Lessons you’ve learned or relevant experience

Nothing is more appealing and convincing than an account of something that you’ve actually experienced. This will help create your credibility and eliminate doubts from people’s minds.

Information from other people

What better way to show users that you’re in fact dedicated in giving them the best but to interview and give them information straight from industry leaders? You can arrange even a brief interview with an expert and add that to your content to have more value.

If you want to make money on the internet then invest in your content. How you talk to people and what you tell them can ultimately draw in a good fan base. A good foundation (in terms of credibility and value) and relationship with your potential clients is what will make you sell.

How do you come up with your content? Share your views please with the rest of our readers.

Make Money Online – Internet Marketers Challenges with Branding

Guna — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:50:03 +0000

This is Chapter 6 of a ten chapter report on Challenges Faced by Internet Marketers. If you haven’t read the previous chapters, please visit – 10 Biggest Challenges Faced by Internet Marketers.

Along with proper internet marketing techniques, one of the best ways to ensure that you will make money on the internet is your personal brand. Just like for any company in any industry, branding is a crucial aspect to the firm’s reputation in the market.

As many experts have established, a company’s brand is what will ultimately make its products sell. Read on to find out why branding is important in making money online and internet marketers should learn it.

Why Personal Branding is Important for Internet Marketers?

Personal branding is considered as a long term asset. If you’re going to invest on it, you’ll definitely be reaping rewards for a long time. If you’re going to market products and services, you have to brand yourself.

Otherwise, it’s like working hard only to have other people or other entities earn the credit. Since it’s more than likely that the products and services you sell will have their similar competitors then it’s best to publicize yourself as a distinctive dealer.

If not, it’s like marketing the products of other companies instead of yours. It’s not enough that you tell people what you offer; you should be able to help them distinguish your company apart from everyone else. This is the importance of personal branding.

You create a reputation for yourself that is distinguishable from other companies. It helps you build a loyal following of consumers. If you have a distinguished set of followers, you can easily make money online.

Important Points

You have to tell people that there’s none like you in the industry. Personal branding helps you to stand out. Personal branding encourages people to seek you instead of you following them around. In personal branding, you have to remember that you are marketing yourself to people.

Remember that people are seeking ways to improve their lifestyle. They want to find things which can help them improve the quality of their lives and make sure that their money gets its worth.

In order to make money on the internet, people have to see you and feel your presence. You have to talk to them and be able to reach them like no other business can.

Branding is a way to make sure people remember and refer back to you. In order to successfully do so, you have to employ a number of strategies.

How to Create Your Personal Brand?

Personal brand is important in making money online. Thus, the following strategies ensure that you can create your personal brand in the virtual world:

Blogging – This is a way to make sure that people thoroughly understand who you are and what you do. Through blogging, you can share with people the specialties and services that you offer. If people completely understand what you can do for them, they will certainly identify whether you are relevant to them or not. You can establish your relevance through your content and help them see why you’re an essential part of their lives. If people see your necessity then you can easily turn them into customers and make money on the internet. Make sure you that carefully go over your content. Try not to squeeze too much. Tell what you need to say in a concise manner.
Avatar, photo and company information – In most cases, images can help people remember your company better. Just like how McDonalds, Coca Cola and Apple have made their trademark symbols, you can also make one for your company. Make sure that your photo or symbol stands out. See to it that it’s something that people have never seen before. It’s also best to be able to relate the company name to your identifying image. Your website should be able to clearly display what you want people to identify you with. You can incorporate a good avatar or photo with company name through a logo. If you’re not well versed on logo making or image making then it’s best to consult a professional.
Reinforce who you are – You can use different social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to repeatedly let people remember who you are and what you do. However, it is important that you don’t appear redundant. Don’t just publish the same thing over and over again. Think of ways on how to make people remember. For instance, you don’t to frequently advertise your products. You can simply provide a status message. Without having to tire out people, you simply were able to remind them that you are there. When people see your status, subconsciously you leave a mark. After a while, you can advertise your products again. Try to give intervals and people will surely see you as important instead of annoying and overly persistent.

Personal branding entails that you carefully think of unique and creative ways to market your brand and let people know who you are. Don’t just settle for the usual publicity stunts. Try to think of ways wherein people will actually enjoy your marketing strategy.

Make Money Online – Internet Marketers Challenges with Technology Changes

Guna — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:32:11 +0000

This chapter is part of a ten part series on challenges faced by internet marketers. While the first few chapters discussed how internet marketers can overcome challenges both in their chosen field and in their profession, this chapter discusses the technology and tools that an internet marketer should learn to successfully make money online. A marketing medium can guarantee that people will get to visit the site and the necessary publicity is achieved.

Different Marketing Media

Since the internet is an online battle, naturally, the tools and media and that you will have to use to make money on the internet are also online. The following techniques and internet tools are the fundamentals in the competitive arena of internet marketing and making money online:

Article marketing

Article marketing has established itself as one of the most effective and most commonly used technique in the field of internet marketing and making money online. In order for people to know what you offer, you have to advertise what you have to say. Article marketing is the best way to do that. You have to submit articles/content to an article directory.

Article directories often get good page ranks in Google and they are very efficient in getting content seen by people looking for particular keywords. Since almost every day there are new websites and article directors developed, you have to do your own research to find the best directories around. Usually, the best way to see which article directory ranks top is to search through Google Page Rank or Alexa.

The following article directories come as some of the most recommended article directories which internet marketers can use:

These are just a few of them. It might be a good idea to constantly check the page rank to make sure you’re still using a top site. A site with a higher page rank will help your site rank higher on search engines.

Social media

Social media websites are considered as one of the most followed and most patronized kinds of websites. People from different backgrounds, countries and interests all gather in social media sites. Users who have social media accounts often use their account to keep updated with everyone.

These social media sites provide advertisement platforms where developers place ads strategically. These days, it might be a good idea to create your Facebook page if you really want to make money on the internet. It’s also good to get some followers from Twitter. However, if you’re really aiming at a more personal approach then Facebook is a good platform. Be sure to check out regularly for newer sites.

Just like other social media sites, there might be a new site that can set standards. Your aim as an internet marketer is to gain as much attention. It’s likely that when interested people see your ad they will click on it and check out your own site.

Video Marketing

If you want a television-like advertisement then go for video marketing. You can upload videos on YouTube. This is a good way to also attract people. Some people are more visually oriented, thus, a video advertisement is the best way to reach them.

Make sure to research on what makes an effective video advertisement. You can solely use YouTube for video marketing unless something as widely popular and commonly used platform emerges.

Blogging

While blogging was previously limited in uploading content, you can now design your blog as if it’s a professional website. Blogging platforms like Wordpress now provide SEO tools and packs to help better improve the blog’s page rank.

Almost regularly there are new Wordpress packs available so be sure to check them out. See which ones can make your marketing efficient.

Technology Changes for your Website

The internet is constantly bombarded with new offerings. Many providers try to put out as much software and platforms. However, if you really want to make money online, then it’s best that you only select software and platforms that would be useful to you. See what other businesses are doing.

Check out how reputable and leading companies do it. You won’t have to put in a lot of things to your website. Make sure that it’s not as cluttered. Just see to it that it appears presentable and appealing just like how genuine and successful companies have done.

Ever Changing Market

There are many products and services that you can offer. However, if you’re going to try and claim every product and service there is, you might end up unsuccessful. Concentrate first on just one or a few products and services.

It’s best that they’re related so you can incorporate similar techniques and marketing won’t be confusing. Try to determine your capabilities and up to what extent can you market such products and services.

Making money online is entails using the right tools and techniques. Without proper tools and techniques, things may just fail.

Boosting InfoAfricaNow.com – Africa’s Business Directory

Guna — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:04:43 +0000

Recently I have been so busy with all the changes that my blog is going through hence I didn’t have a chance to talk about new startups that were submitted through the above site submit section.

I will try to get through all of the requests that are sitting in my inbox within the next two weeks.

Today I want to talk specifically about InfoAfricaNow.com. It is a free online directory specifically for Africa. It has listings in various sectors such as accommodation, finance, art, music, governments and organizations and many others related to Africa.

This website consists of over 15,000 listings so far in less than six months since it was launched. The vision for the founders, Akinyi Adongo and Zahra Haji, of this website is to be resourceful for the continent of Africa. Both Ms Akinyi and Ms Zahra are from Nairobi Kenya.

Their business plan aims at generating profit from advertising and through sponsor listings. Sponsored links will appear at the top of shown results. Some of the other things I would recommend for such site to consider classified advertisement system. If you are planning to go local, region by region, in Africa, you should consider adding classified advertisement option. This would bring in additional revenue.

According to the founders, “InfoAfricaNow.com came about as a result of lack of information on Africa on the internet. Less than 1 percent of the content discussed and written about on the web is about Africa. We wish to change this by providing a portal which conveys relevant and necessary information on Africa. We update our website daily, and are constantly on the lookout for what is new in Africa, unlike most other African websites which are rarely updated.” I am not too familiar with African websites, but the key to be successful with any website is to keep it current and up to date.

I’ve asked them about their plan for marketing. They are using social media, email campaigns and word of mouth. They also take advantage of local publications and advertise their website.

Although there are many directories on the internet, this seems to be headed in the right direction to be a local directory services for Africa which will allow people like you and I to find relevant information regarding Africa and the countries within it.

Visit: InfoAfricaNow.com

Make Money Online – How to be a Successful Internet Marketer by Overcoming Distractions and Procrastinations

Guna — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:01:17 +0000

Have a plan and stick to it! Yes it is that simple.

I’ve discussed about this time and time again in the past about having a real plan and sticking to it and why it is important if you want to make any money on the internet.

Here are just a few of my previous posts:

Simple Five Step Plan for Just About Everyone and Everything
Why You Should Follow Through With Your Commitments
Know How to Set Priorities and to Follow Them

So instead of rewriting what I say all the time, I thought I would pick a section of a chapter from my eBook – How to Make Money with Startup Booster dot com. If you haven’t downloaded my eBook yet, you should fill in the form to the top right to receive your FREE copy today.

How to Make Sure You are Successful?

Do you know how to distinguish between a successful person from an unsuccessful one? If you don’t, it is easy. You just have to ask them a question about their goals and then listen to them about what they have to say. Usually the successful person would have a plan with a timeline for his or her goals. The unsuccessful person will talk about his or her goals without any solid plans.

The successful person will tell you when he or she will start and when they expect to hit certain milestones until they reach their goals. The unsuccessful person will count on being successful by trying without planning. The unsuccessful person will know how to dream but not how to achieve it systematically.

Well I want you to take one thing from this book if anything, I want you to be a good planner so you can execute well.

You can’t achieve your goal of making money online unless you have a solid plan with timelines attached to each milestone.

Defining your Goals

So today, take a piece of paper and jot down what you want to do. Ask yourself the question, why are you here and why did you choose to download my e-book. Within the answers to those questions, you will definitely find out where you want to be when you are successful. Ask yourself when you want to reach that success stage – for example, how would everything it look at the end?

Let’s look at an example, how about a goal to make money from blogging? Well this is a broad goal. You are not telling yourself what you want to write about and when you want to be successful.

A goal should be something like this:

“I want to make money blogging about “how to make money online for beginners” and I want to make about $250 per month by end of this year (2010). This will help me pay for my hosting services and also give me some money to purchase advertisement to continue to grow my site. In 2011, I want to reinvest the money I make from the blog and grow to a level where I am making $2500 per month by end of 2011… to get to this stage, I plan on investing about 30 minutes daily to write new content for my blog in 2010 and then if I reach my 2010 goals, I will invest additional time to really reach a stage where I can replace my existing income with blogging income.”

Now this is detailed. It talks about what exactly this person wants to blog about and what they consider a success. You can see from this quote that this person actually wants to spend a few hours weekly but eventually want to work on the blog to replace their existing income.

This definitely is a realistic goal and it can certainly be achieved. This person has milestones where they can measure their success.

Having milestones for your goal is important. You need to know if you are making progress or not. If you are not making progress, then do something about it. Either find something else to do or find out why you are not making any progress.

So in conclusion, you must define goals that are realistic. You need to commit time for your goal and it should be quantified. You need to break down your goal into milestones and attach a target date for each milestone. Once you have this figured out, you should be able to move to the planning stage.

Take it serious and think of it just like a business you own. Will you slack off if you own a business? I guess not.

How to Come up With a Plan to Make Money Online?

I really want you to think about this. Now that you have written down your goal, what kind of effort are you going to put into this to make it happen? You have to come up with a serious quantifiable number for the amount of time you can commit to this new venture and how much money you can spend to make it happen.

Take it this way; imagine today you have just landed a part-time job that commits to only pay you monthly starting in two months.

Now if it is still being difficult for you to commit, then just stop and think about this… how you would feel with an extra $1,000 coming in every single month and how that extra money would help your current situation. If you find that additional money helpful, how would it help to free up your time?

For some people, this extra $1,000 means they don’t have to work overtime at their current job. For others, this means they can give up their part-time job. What would this mean for you?

Then ask yourself the question, what am I willing to do today to make that extra $1,000 per month permanently. By going through this exercise, you will be able to arrive at quantifiable numbers that will help you build a solid plan.

So going back to our example on blogging to make money, by now you are able to determine how much time you are able to commit on a weekly basis for your new venture.

Once you have that information, you then have to decide when you will launch your site. In order to launch your site, you will need to have a place to host your site. More details about where to host, etc will be discussed in Chapter 3.

This early part where you are spending time reading this e-book and putting time on making a plan, would seem like a waste of time. Let me assure you, it will not be a waste of a time. You are just laying your foundation for a great success.

And if you feel that I am repeating, then you’ve guessed it right. Yes I am repeating to make sure you don’t waste your time. I want you to take something from this e-book and be successful.

So let me say it again, successfully making money online depends on your commitment to see it through. You have to have a plan so you can measure yourself. Without a plan, you don’t know if you are going down the right direction, if you are making money or if you will ever be successful.

Come up with a realistic plan with timelines that are reasonable to meet and stick to it. You will be successful.

Just as a cautionary point, please don’t set deadlines that are unrealistic. Don’t say you want to make money online within a month or a week. This will only make you a failure and you will not have any motivation to continue once you reach the deadline.

StartupBooster.com

How I made 200% Return on the Internet within 2 Hours

Related Posts

An interview with Mr. Martin Zwilling, CEO and Founder of Startup Professionals

Related Posts

Make Money Online – Internet Marketers Challenges with Building Backlinks

What is a backlink?

What is the significance of backlinks?

Why quality matters for backlinks?

How to build backlinks?

Why a support group/buddy system is important for marketing?

Related Posts

Make Money Online – Communication Challenges Faced by Internet Marketers

How to get around communication challenges?

Related Posts

Make Money Online – Internet Marketers Challenge with Having the Right Product

Choosing the Right Product to Sell Online

Types of Products that You can Sell Online

Related Posts

Make Money Online – Internet Marketers Challenges with Creating Content

What is Content in Today’s Internet world?

Having No Time to Create Content

How to Create Rich Content

Related Posts

Make Money Online – Internet Marketers Challenges with Branding

Why Personal Branding is Important for Internet Marketers?

Important Points

How to Create Your Personal Brand?

Related Posts

Make Money Online – Internet Marketers Challenges with Technology Changes

Different Marketing Media

Technology Changes for your Website

Ever Changing Market

Related Posts

Boosting InfoAfricaNow.com – Africa’s Business Directory

Related Posts

Make Money Online – How to be a Successful Internet Marketer by Overcoming Distractions and Procrastinations

How to Make Sure You are Successful?

Defining your Goals

How to Come up With a Plan to Make Money Online?

Related Posts