Online Business

Lesson 12: Article Marketing Part 3

2008-03-10T00:11:00.000-07:00

I was debating about whether or not to even cover this topic yet, simply because it gets more into a method geared for a specific type of business. But I think for people who want to do something like this, you might want to read this. I was eventually going to include it in the more advanced lessons anyway. But since this is such a big thing today, I figured I´d share it now.
By now, you may or may not have heard about something called Bum Marketing. If not, I´ll give you the 20 cent tour. The whole concept is a little more involved than what I´ll be sharing here, but this will give you the basics.
Anyway, here´s bum marketing in a nutshell.
Remember I talked about finding niches and what to look for as far as how many searches are done for a keyword each month and how many competing sites you have. Well, Bum Marketing takes this one step farther to the point of specializing in niches that have so little competition, but enough monthly searches to actually make it so that you might make a few sales out of the deal. Let me say, you will NOT get rich off of this unless you do a TON of writing.
What you want to do, and this is the hard part, is find a niche where there is no more than 1,000 competing sites for that keyword or keyword phrase, but at least 3,000 to 5,000 searches a month. This will ultimately give you a wide open field to break into this niche.
Let´s do a real time example, as of this writing, to show you what I am talking about.
Let´s go to our search engine and look for a keyword phrase that has very few competing sites on Google.
I decided to start with “movies.’ Yes, it´s a broad phrase, but this tool...
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
Will give you a number of alternatives. So when typing in “movies’ I came up with a pretty long list. I finally got down to one phrase...
’List Of Christmas Movies’
Wordtracker came back with 361 searches. Now, you have to multiply that by 4 to get the total number of Google searches, roughly. That´s about 1400 searches a month. Not bad.
But, the key is, how many competing sites for that keyword?
I then went to Google and typed in “List Of Christmas Movies’ and came up with only 249 competing sites.
Wow! We´ve struck gold. How?
Simple. Write an article on “List Of My Favorite Christmas Movies’
Submit it to Ezine Articles AFTER you have a site set up with:
1. In depth reviews of a number of Christmas movies.
2. Links to be able to purchase these movies online from your Amazon account or whatever place you want to deal with.
3. You can have other movie related items at the site, but the key is to narrow in on your target market.
The Bum Marketing theory is, for every article you write, you´ll make 1 sale per month. Want to make 30 sales a month? Write 30 articles.
Over time, more and more people will see these articles and your income will increase.
Just repeat the process for any niche you want. Yes, the research takes time, but once you find a gold mine, you WILL profit from it because very few people are doing this.
Try it if you have some time.

Lesson 11: Article Marketing Part 2

2008-03-10T00:10:00.000-07:00

n the previous lesson in this series, we talked about one way of using article writing to promote your website, by submitting them to article directories and getting visitors from your link in the resource box for the article. In this installment, we´re going to go over another form of article marketing that doesn´t involve submitting your articles to article directories. It can work very well but is going to take other forms of advertising along with it to make it work.
You probably know by now that blogs are a big thing on the Internet. I actually had my own blog long before the term ever got created. About 10 years ago, I had a web page that was my own personal online diary. I would simply go there each day and post my feelings about the day or things that I did. Nobody ever saw it, but I didn´t care. It was just so much fun to know that stuff of mine was on the Internet.
Today, people have turned this into an art form. There are real blogs all over the place. Many of them are really well done and interesting reading. And therein lies the key. If you can set up a blog and really put some good article content on it, you´ll eventually see that people will come to your blog to read those articles. Once you have them there and have captured them with your words of wisdom. That´s when you can pretty much do anything from that point. I kind of look at it as your blog being the capture point and then from there you can send people anywhere you like. Maybe you have another website you want them to check out that is in the same niche as your blog. Maybe you sell an affiliate product that you want them to check out. You can do any of these things from your blog. Just include a link at the end of the article, or middle.
Middle?
Why not? Blogs are not bound by the same rules as article directories where you can only have a link in your signature or resource box. It´s YOUR blog. So you can do anything you want with it. So for example, you can be talking about this great new game that just came out and start to review it. In the middle you can say, “Here, check it out at...’ and then just give them your Amazon.com affiliate link for that product or wherever the product is being sold. Think they won´t go check it out?
The flexibility of blogs is mind-blowing. You are limited only by your imagination. If you´re a creative writer, and that´s why I so stress that writing is one of the most critical parts of online promotion, then there is no reason why you can´t make a few sales off your blog each day.
So now, the $64,000 question is simply, “How do we get people TO our blogs?’
And therein lies the rub, because blogs are no different from any other web page. If people don´t know they exist, then they won´t know to go there.
That´s why we have this whole series on Internet advertising.
One method that we should talk about here, however, since this lesson is basically about putting articles on blogs, is the method of blog directory pinging.
Basically what you do, after you actually update your blog, is to go to one of these services and let them know that your blog has been updated. You simply type in your blog name and URL and then hit the ping button. What will happen is that this service will then ping all the blog directories in its listing letting them know that your blog has been updated.
Here are 2 services that I use to do this.
http://www.kping.com/
http://pingomatic.com/
They´re very easy to use and you should have no problems with them.

Lesson 10: Article Marketing Part 1

2008-03-10T00:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is going to be the first in what is going to be a long series on specific advertising methods. The reason this series is going to be so long is because in my opinion, even above product and web site, advertising is the most important thing when it comes to making your business successful. So going in alphabetical order, we´re going to start with article marketing.
Unlike most other forms of advertising that are pretty much defined by what they actually are, article marketing is a little different. Why? Because unlike say, safelists where you basically just cue up your ad and let it run, article marketing is not so cut and dried. There are many ways to go about this.
But first, let´s define exactly what article marketing is.
Article marketing is the practice of writing an article for the purpose of using it to get visitors to your web site, thus being a form of advertising, though not directly.
Let me explain.
The purpose of an article is to give somebody information. For example. There have been many times when I needed info on a particular topic because I wanted to learn something about it. Now, I could have just typed in the topic name into a search engine by itself but in so doing, I would have no idea what to expect as far as results. So, if I wanted specific info about a topic I would type in “Topic Name’ + “Articles’ and then see what comes up. Hopefully, I will find a list of articles on that topic.
Why do I want articles? Because I know that articles are going to be informative. At least I hope so, as not everybody is a great article writer. But most published articles are usually pretty decent if you go to an established and well known article directory. But we´ll get into that later. The point is, these article directories are very popular with people and you can usually find a good article on the info you need in them.
So how does this actually lead to advertising, especially if you are writing an article on “Natural Acne Treatments?’
When you write an article, and now I am getting into one of the ways to use article marketing for the purpose of promotion, you can include with your submission to these article directories, what is called a resource box. In this resource box is where you put your author´s name and a little blurb about your site. Now, the trick is go get people to read beyond the article and actually read your resource box. I´ll be showing you some tricks on how to do that later. Anyway, by doing this, the person reading the article that you´ve submitted, will read your resource box and, if they find it interesting enough, go to your site, where you can do a number of things. We´ll get into them later as well.
In the next lesson in this series, we´ll go over another way to use articles for advertising purposes.

Lesson 9: Introduction To Internet Advertising

2008-03-10T00:06:00.000-07:00

Well, we´ve made it this far. You´ve put your site together and now it´s time to unleash it to the world. Only one problem.
How?
I have made the last 4 years of my life an almost full dedication to learning the art of advertising online. There are more ways to promote your site online than Carter has liver pills. Some methods work well, some not so well. The problem is, when we first start out, we don´t know which is which. The only way we find out is through trial and error.
So let me jump in at this point and get this out of the way. What is going to follow in this series on advertising is simply my personal feelings on each method. I will give you a technical explanation on how each method works, which probably won´t get much criticism, and then I will give my evaluation of each method, which will probably get a TON of criticism. So be it. I am in no way suggesting that my opinions are right, wrong or anything other than JUST my opinions. So take them with a grain of salt. I will try to back up my opinions with some facts and pieces of logic. But ultimately, you´re going to have to try out each method and see what works for yourself.
Here is a short list of the methods of advertising that I will be covering in this series of lessons.
Article Writing
Auto Surfs
Banner Exchanges
Blogs
Buying Leads
Classified Ads
E-Zine Ads
FFA Hosting
FFA Posting
Forums
Joint Ventures/Freebies
Link Exchanges
List Builders
Manual Surfs
Message Boards
Pay Per Click
Safelists
Search Engines
This will probably be the most extensive part of this whole series of lessons.
Why?
Because I don´t care how great your site is or how great your product is. If you don´t promote it and promote it effectively, you´re not going to get people to your site.
A brief explanation why.
In the real offline world, you can open up a store on the corner to sell donuts and even without advertising, you can get lots of people to come to your store, just because they are driving by. When the Dunkin Donuts opened up down the street from us, I didn´t see any advertisements. I drove down the street, saw the Dunkin Donuts and said “Wow, a Dunkin Donuts!’
Online is a different story. There are no streets. You put up a web site and unless you tell people it exists, nobody will see it, not even the search engines.
So in the online world, advertising is 90% of the game. The rest is having a good product. And even at that, you can sell junk too and make money. Look at the “Pet Rock’ and “Box Of Air’ from the 70s. Those ad campaigns were dynamite.
In this series I will rate each form of advertising with 3 ratings.
1. How many people you´ll get to your site
2. The quality of traffic to the site.
3. How fast you´ll get this traffic.
Again, these are ONLY my opinions and I am just speaking from experience

Lesson 8: Web Site Creation

2008-03-10T00:05:00.002-07:00

Okay, you´ve got your domain and your web hosting and you´re ready to start working on your site. Yeah, I know, web design. Yuck! Don´t get me wrong. I love it. I actually started designing web sites before they were even in vogue. My first site was... well, I won´t get into that now. But web design isn´t for everybody.
For those of you who don´t know HTML from STP Oil Treatment, there are alternatives to designing your own site from the ground floor up.
1. Get somebody to do it for you. This is the easiest, and the most expensive. Web designers, good web designers, don´t work cheap. Depending on how many pages you require for your web site, you can spend thousands of dollars on one. But be darn sure, if you get a top notch designer, you will get a top notch site.
2. Get a template. This will still require you to do a little bit of work but templates are, for the most part, a breeze. Most come in a zip file with all the graphics you´ll need. The HTML is already done for you. All you need to do is add your own unique text and links. The amount of HTML you´ll need to learn to do this is minimal. Yes, you will still need to do a little work yourself, but in comparison to doing your own site from scratch, it´s a relative breeze.
3. Get Site Build It the all in one package I mentioned in the previous lesson. You get site-building, site-hosting, and site-marketing - all the tools you need, tied together to make it simple for you to build a professional, popular, and profitable business. It delivers success. Check it out. You will not be disappointed.
Regardless of which way you go with this, even with a template, you still have to decide what your site is going to be made of. In other words, what pages? How many? Will the site be static (never changing) or will you constantly be adding pages to it as it goes along? All of this will greatly depend on what kind of site you have.
For example. For my alternative treatments site at http://www.natures-healing-remedies.com/ I basically have 5 main pages.
1. The home or index page is where people first come to the site. This is where you want to give them a basic idea of what they will find on the site. In my case, I also offer a free report. This is great for getting people to opt into your list. But that´s for later in this series.
2. The about us page is kind of like a mission statement. It tells people what we´re trying to accomplish with the site.
3. The products page is self explanatory. This is where you sell your various products, whatever they may be.
4. The articles page is a list of all the articles that a visitor can read at the site about the related topics.
5. The contact page is where people can email you from if they have any questions. Some sites put a contact form on the page instead of an email link.
Now, even though there are only 5 main pages, the articles page actually turns this site into a never ending growth site. Each article listed on the page is going to have its own article page specifically for THAT article. So if there are 100 articles listed on the articles page, the site itself now has over 100 pages. This is how a site builds popularity. Writing is a big key to making money online. Don´t forget that.
So what´s the next step? Well, the next step for YOU is to sit down and map out what you want your site to look like. Use mine as a guide if you want. But ultimately, depending on what you are promoting, your site will have its own unique characteristics.

Lesson 7: Domains & Web Hosting

2008-03-10T00:05:00.001-07:00

In the previous lessons, we've basically started preparing to get into the meat of running our business, which pretty much comes down to advertising. Let's face it, if people don't know that your web site is out there then you have no chance of making any kind of income. So in the next series of lessons will primarily deal with that aspect. Because there are so many types of advertising avenues on the Internet, these lessons will be broken down into sections with each section covering a different form of advertising.
But before we even get into advertising, we're going to have to first get into setting up your web site, which includes getting a domain and hosting.
Because this series has to be as generic as possible, we're going to try to shy away from specific business examples and concentrate on principals that will apply to most businesses. Obviously, there are going to be business models that may not fit in as nicely with this information as others, but we'll do our best to help everybody out there who wants to make a living on the Internet.
Okay, now that the disclaimers and all the preliminaries are out of the way, it's finally time to take our business idea and turn it into a reality. You've narrowed down your niche, you've figured out how much competition you have, how many monthly searches you have and you have a pretty good idea of what kind of traffic you can expect. The only thing left is to actually create your business.
We're going to have to take a few liberties with this series if we're going to have any chance of getting it off the ground. So, these lessons will be geared towards people who have decided to put up their own site and promote either their own products and services or promote other products and services as an affiliate.
Okay, let's begin.
The first thing you're going to need is to find a domain name for your business. This is where you're going to have to use a little imagination. Let's say you decided to sell CDs through Amazon and you decide to focus on the ones that are sold at a big discount, which is usually the older stuff. You might want to get a domain name like www.cheapcds.com, or something like that. You want the domain name to be as descriptive of what your business is as possible. If it's a band review site then maybe you might choose something like www.rockbandreviews.com or something like that. I seriously doubt either of those domains are available, but you get the picture.
To get your domain, simply go to Google and type in "Domains." You'll find about 95 million places to get domains. Lots of people use GoDaddy.com. You can even choose to get your domain through Site Build it an all in one package that may be the best option for many new people getting started online.
After you get your domain, the next thing you're going to need is hosting. Choosing a hosting company may be the most important decision you will make in getting started online. If you choose the right host chances are you will use the same host for several years. Believe me there is nothing worst then having to change hosts especially when you have a successful live site.
So how do you choose the right host? My best advice is check around on the internet marketing forums to see which hosts are recommended by others. My favorite web host and the host I use for this site is My site has never been down,. Also, as you will see in the next lesson an all in one package like may be the best and easiest option for people who are serious about building an online business.

Lesson 6: Starting Your Business

2008-03-10T00:03:00.001-07:00

Okay, so you've picked a niche to make your killing in. You've done your research, found something that has lots of monthly searches and not a ton of competition. The only thing you have to do is put together a game plan for promoting your niche to the masses. Of course, before you even do that, you have to figure out how you're even going to get your niche up on the Internet. But before you even do THAT, you better be prepared to do business online.
This is where most people get caught with their pants down.
Why?
Because they don't realize all the things that they can run into.
Why?
Because they're brand new to this. They're entering a world that is so foreign to them that the things I am going to list here wouldn't even dawn on them. So, in order to keep you from waking up one day and wishing you had this stuff, I am going to outline for you a few things you may want to get BEFORE you actually start thinking about building a web site and advertising it to the masses.
1. You're going to need a backup for your computer. I don't care whether you get a zip drive or an online service or duel RAID drives. If your PC crashes and you don't have all your important files saved somewhere, you are going to be in for some serious hurt. I am speaking from experience. I never thought of these things until they happened to me.
2. You're going to want to get a professional email account. You'll normally get one of these with a hosting package. Why do you want a professional email account? Without going into a long boring rant about spam and spam filters and how tons of email just simply doesn't get delivered to these free email accounts like AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo and on and on, just do yourself a favor and get a pro email account. The last thing you want to happen is somebody writing to you inquiring about your business and their email either lands in your bulk folder or doesn't get delivered at all. Get a pro email account.
3. Get a safety deposit box. If your house burns down, no backup is going to save your valuable papers and contracts, not to mention all the passwords you're going to accumulate for all the sites and services you're going to subscribe to. And make no mistake about it, you'll have TONS of passwords. Write them all down and maybe once a month, go to your safety deposit box and put the updated papers in it. This way, if you have to start from scratch, you'll at least have every site you belong to, along with your username and password on a sheet of paper. Saves a ton of time.
4. Get a business phone. If you're going to communicate with potential JV partners or customers, the last thing you want is for somebody to call home and have your kid answer the phone. If you're going to run a professional business, get a business phone. Even a private cell phone is fine.
5. Anti Virus and Firewall protection. The Internet is a nasty place. The last thing you want to do is go online to any site and risk getting hit with a trojan or worse. It happens. Not to mention some of the things you're going to find in your email. In today's Internet, going online without anti virus and firewall protection is like sending a blind man through a mine field.
There are other things that you're probably going to want to get over time such as a text editor, a budget and expense program, a filing cabinet and high speed Internet connection, but the 5 things I mentioned above are a must. It's just plain suicide not to have them and they're not very expensive.

Lesson 5: Is Your Niche Choice Profitable

2008-03-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, you've taken your list of interests, you've picked one item on that list and you've narrowed it down to a very specific keyword phrase. If you haven't yet done this, go back to lesson 4 and read it. I'll wait.
You now have your keyword phrase. Guess what?
This doesn't necessarily mean this is what you're going to be focusing on for your business.
Huh? Did I hear that right?
Yes, you heard that right. See, just because you have an interest in something, doesn't mean other people are going to have an interest in it. And even if they do, if you're going to go up against a million other sites promoting the same niche, you are going to have one heck of a tough time getting your piece of the pie. This is why I advise people to stay AWAY from Internet marketing. Why? It's a jungle. Yes, you can make it work. I did. But why beat your brains against a stone wall when you can find something that is more like hitting a pillow.
So let's take my own choice of health. I decided to go with the more narrowed keyword phrase "Alternative Treatments For Acne."
Great, now what?
Well, let's see what our demand and competition is.
How do we do this?
Well, the competition is easy. Just go to Google and type in, with the quotes YOUR keyword phrase. I'll type in mine.
I get 37,000 sites coming up with that keyword phrase. Okay, not too bad.
Now, let's see how many monthly searches we get.
To do this, go to a keyword suggestion tool and type in the same phrase.
I use many. Here's one of them.
It's not the easiest tool to use but with Overture now gone, outside of paid tools, there's not a lot out there that even works anymore.
Now, the tool will also give you alternative keyword phrases, because not everybody is going type in YOUR phrase. Wordtracker will give you a decent list.
Okay, type in your keyword phrase, again with the quotes, and see how many monthly searches you get.
In my case, not too good. My original phrase only got 2 monthly searches. And even the best word in my list, "Acne" only got 1688 monthly searches and it's not very targeted. What I mean by targeted is this.
Does everybody who types in acne into a search engine want an alternative treatment? Some may simply be looking up what causes it. That's why you want your target phrase to be as specific as possible.
So let's see what we have.
1688 searches for a non targeted phrase and over 37,000 sites to go up against. I don't know about you but I don't like those odds. Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't pursue this, but if you do, I just want you to understand what you're going to be up against. It will be an uphill battle.
Ideally, you want to find a keyword phrase where you have about 1000 - 2000 competing sites and about 5,000 to 10,000 searches a month. Believe it or not, these ratios exist. They're not easy to find but they do exist. And when you latch onto a niche with very little competition and a good number of monthly searches, you've basically found yourself a goldmine. The key is cashing in on it.
Just keep repeating the above process until you find a niche that you are happy with. It may take some time, but it's time well spent.
In our next lesson, we'll begin to build our business.

Lesson 4: Narrowing Down Your Interests

2008-03-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

In this lesson, we're going to create a list of your interests and choose a niche for starting your Internet marketing business.
First, sit down with a pen and paper (yes, get away from the darn computer) and write down ALL your interests. That's right, ALL of them. I don't care how silly they are or how unlikely they are to make money. Just write them down.
Okay, so now you've got your list. The question is, "What do I do with it?"
In order to answer the question, let's take a look at my list, since I can't possibly know what's on yours. Don't worry, the same principals apply.
My list:
1. Writing
2. Music
3. Computers
4, Games
5. Health
Now, in my case, I have an extra problem that some people may not have. I really do enjoy ALL of these things a lot. If somebody told me I could only do one of these six things the rest of my life, I would have a hard time deciding which one. Music has been part of my life since I was a child, writing the same and computers and games are just way too much fun to give up. Health has been a big issue for me since I became ill and now I am really into alternative treatments for diseases.
But you can't do everything at one time. That's one of the biggest mistakes that new marketers make. They jump from program to program and never give anything a real chance. Nothing is going to make you a gazillion dollars overnight so get over it. You need a game plan and that game plan MUST focus on dealing with ONE THING AT A TIME. If that isn't clear enough, I will say it again.
You need a game plan and that game plan MUST focus on dealing with ONE THING AT A TIME.
Okay, so let's take my list and see how we narrow down what we're going to do.
I know this is painful, but the first thing you have to do is look at your list and pick out ONE item. It doesn't even have to be your favorite item on the list, though that will probably help as you want to do something that you really enjoy. Why? Because you're going to be spending countless hours doing it so you better at least enjoy it to start or you don't have a prayer. Building a business based on something that you have no knowledge or interest in is looking for disaster. You will lose interest quickly and never get your business off the ground.
Okay, I've made my choice. I'm going to pick Health.
Now, health is a very broad topic, kind of like medicine or doctors. There are many types of medicines and many types of doctors. A proctologist is sure as hell not going to perform brain surgery on me, though most people would say that in my case it's pretty much the same thing.
The point is, we want to narrow health down at least a bit. Health is what we call, in the marketing world, a keyword. A keyword is something that people type into a search engine when they look for something on the Internet.
For example, let's say you're searching for info about the new Ipod. You'd probably go to Google and type in "Ipod" and get a ton of results. But what it you're just looking for articles or reviews on the Ipod so you can get a decent idea if it's something you want to buy? In that case you might type in "Ipod articles" or "Ipod reviews." See what we've done? We've narrowed down our keyword search. Now, when we do our search, we don't get as many results. This is why we want to break "health" down a bit so we can narrow in on a very specific niche. You may not even use the word health in your final choice but it will be related to it in some way. In my case, I narrowed health down to "Alternative Medicine."
Now, that alone is still pretty broad. But from it, we can come up with a number of subsets, such as "Alternative Treatments" or "Alternative Cures For" and so on.
Then, we can get REALLY specific, like...
"Alternative Treatments For Acne" or "Alternative Cures For Cancer" and so on.
The list of things we can focus and narrow in on, just from that one keyword, can literally be endless.
Take music. Good heavens. Off the top of my head, I can come up with "Music of the 60s", "Music of the Beatles", "Music Notation Software" and on and on and on.
Do you see where I am going with this? Take your main interest, whatever it is, and break it down as much as you can. Get it to the point where you are focusing on one VERY specific thing.
In the next lesson, we're going to take your narrowed down "keyword phrase" and run with it.

Lesson 3: What's A Niche

2008-03-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

In the previous lesson I told you how important it was to find a group of people who want something, and give them what they want. This lesson will help you understand this concept known as niches.
Niche is a big buzzword in business. The basic idea behind niches is to specialize in a small area so you can target potential customers more easily. Let me give you an example to illustrate what I´m talking about:
"Music" is not a niche. It´s more of a broad concept, and is hard to build a business around. "Music CDs" is a niche, although a broad one. "Country Music CDs" is a smaller niche. "Johnny Cash CDs" (a specific artist) is what we´d call a "micro-niche".
You can do this with anything: "Baseball" (not a niche). "Baseball Gear" (broad niche). "Baseball Bats" (smaller niche). "Brand-name Baseball Bats" (micro-niche).
While this concept is important for offline business too, it´s super-important for building an online business. It has to do with the way people look for information online.
When someone hops onto a search engine, they´re usually looking for very specific information or products or services. They´re not usually thinking "Music CD", they´re thinking of a specific artist or song. If you build a site closer to what they´re specifically looking for, you´ll have a better chance of them visiting your site (or ebay auction, etc.) and buying something.
Just as important, building your business around a niche means less work for you. You´d have to make a ton of pages if you were building a site based around "Baseball". Making a site around "Baseball Bats" means less work. It also means that when people show up to your site, they´re more likely to be interested in what you´re selling.
Essentially, a niche is just a group of people that want something. The GOLDEN KEY to making money online is to uncover these groups of people and give them what they want. And online is the BEST way to do it.
If you had a brick-and-mortar CD store, you´d couldn´t JUST sell country music CD´s and turn a profit. There wouldn´t be enough country music fans coming into your store (unless you were in Nashville, but then you´d probably have some stiff competition..). Online, where country music fans can reach you from all over the world, you don´t need to worry about that.
In the next lesson you will learn how to narrow down a niche.

Lesson 2: Where Do I Start?

2008-03-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

Well, you've made the decision. You want to earn a living on the Internet. The problem is, you've never done this before, know nothing about the various ways that you CAN make a living and you're quite honestly, LOST. And I don't mean as in the TV show, though in comparison, those guys are on a picnic. At least they have each other. For the most part, you are on your own. Oh yes, there are those who can give you some direction (which I hope to do) but ultimately, you have to do the work. Eventually, as you build a name for yourself you may get somebody to go into a Joint Venture with you, but I'm getting ahead of myself there. The point is, at the beginning, you truly are ON YOUR OWN.
So there you sit, with your computer screen in front of you, staring at heaven knows what. And the first thing that comes into your mind is one question...
Where Do I Start????
If you think this isn't a scary thought, it is. I've been there. In my case I didn't even have people to turn to in order to ask questions. I was REALLY new to this. I had to do the whole thought process all on my own.
As a result, I made mistakes. TONS of mistakes, which resulted in months of no income or worse...expenses that were killing me. Man, do I wish I had some direction.
Well, I'm here to give you some.
The most important part of starting an Internet Marketing business and making money ultimately boils down to one process:
You must find a group of people who want something, and give them what they want in exchange for money. This is the one step where most beginners fail. They either don't learn this step or get so excited about the promise of overnight riches they just simply skip this step.
Now, there are a ton of ways you can start an Internet marketing buisness online. But in reality most ways can be narrowed down to a just a handful of categories. These methods I´m showing you here are the fastest and most successful methods that have been proven, time and again, to work. They include:
- You can sell someone else´s product for commission: This is called "affiliate marketing." The product can be digital (like an ebook or website hosting) or physical.
- You can sell your own product: This is the way that most people (not all, but most) build a successful business. They create a product or several products (again, they can be digital or physical) that fill a need, and sell them online.
- You can sell your services: If there is something that you´re good at, you can either provide your services over the web (if it´s something like writing) or use the web as a promotional tool for your local services.
- you can sell on Ebay: Ebay gets it´s own category. You´ll be selling your own or someone else´s product, but the way you go about it is slightly different than normal.
- you can sell advertising on your website: The idea here is to create a website or blog with lots of good content (the kind that keeps people coming back for more) and then put advertisements on it. The most common advertising method currently is called "Google Adsense" but if your site becomes popular you can earn huge amounts of money by letting others advertise on your website.
Now, not everyone uses just one of these methods over time. But when you´re starting out, the best way to see success is to pick ONE method and stick with it, then add more profit models as your business grows. No one´s telling you that you can´t sell your own products AND other people´s products for instance. But if you scatter your efforts at the beginning, you´ll have a really hard time becoming successful.

Lesson 1: Getting Started With The Right Internet Marketing Strategies

2008-03-09T23:55:00.000-07:00

Running your own Internet Marketing business is really the best way to make money in the world. You get to set your own hours. You can work from almost anywhere in the world. All of your efforts go towards YOUR business and YOUR success, rather than a large corporation´s. You write your own paycheck. And I don´t know of any business in the world where the start-up costs are so low (often as low as the cost of a monthly website fee), or the knowledge barrier is so small (in other trades, it can take YEARS to learn the basics).
The "problem" (and I only say it´s a problem because it seems to discourage so many people) is that you have to treat your business like a business. Anyone can make a few dollars here and there online. But to get the kind of thousands-of-dollars-a-month success that lets you quit your day job and buy a bigger house, you´re going to have to put in some work upfront and learn the proper internet marketing strategies that will make you a success.
To illustrate what I´m talking about, let´s look at a normal job: you go to work for a specified number of hours, and get paid a certain amount for those hours. If you´re salaried, you get a certain amount per month or year no matter how much you work. Hopefully, if you do a good job you get a raise. In either case, you´re guaranteed to make a certain amount within a specified time-frame.
With an Internet marketing business (as with any business) you have to do some things upfront: you have to set up a website and a few other tools, you have to promote your site or service, etc. This can take a bit of time before you see profits. The reason an Internet marketing business is the way to go is because (if you´re doing things correctly) when you DO see the profit, you´re going to be seeing a lot more of it. And because everything is semi-automated (the order-taking, often the delivery of goods, etc.) your business requires a LOT less time later on to sustain than an hourly job.
It´s a actually a bit like growing a tree. To grow a tree you have to:
- Learn how to care for the tree you want to grow.
- Spend a little cash up front for some seeds or a sapling.
- Find a good place to plant your seeds or sapling. Make sure it´s fertile ground and out of the shade of larger trees.
- Care for your tree as it grows. Keep it watered and fed.
- THEN, when it´s bigger, harvest the fruit.
- Do minor upkeep on tree, keep harvesting fruit, plant new trees.
It´s the same process with an Internet marketing business. Your sapling/seed is your business plan. and your basic tools such as a website, a mailing list, etc. Hunting for a good spot is your market research. Fertilizer and water are your promotional methods. And just like a tree, once it´s up and running it requires a lot less care.
I´m not telling you all of this to discourage you. I just want you to understand that overnight profits are rare, and you can´t count on them or you´ll end up frustrated. And even overnight profits require planning. But if you're willing to do some basic set-up work and have the ability to focus and take action, you'll see more money than you could dream of from an hourly or salaried job. Plus, being able to sleep in when you want is nice, too.
The three magic steps to making it all happen are:
- Step One: Learn how an Internet marketing business works.
- Step Two: Make a plan for your business based on solid market research.
- Step Three: Follow through with the plan, one step at a time.
Just remember: the most important internet marketing strategies of all are to shift your mental focus from "money right now" to "longterm, and you must force yourself to treat your Internet marketing business like a business to be successful. And remember, take things one step at a time.

How to Start Homeschooling

2008-02-05T07:15:00.000-08:00

You are the best teacher your children will ever have because you love them more than anyone else possibly could. Your mandate comes from God, and your "certification" far surpasses what governments or colleges could give. Add a commitment to homeschooling, and you are well on your way to giving your children the best education possible.

But what about skills and knowledge? Although it is helpful to know how to read and write, even these things can be learned, or re-learned, right along with your children. You can teach what you know, and when your knowledge of a subject isn't quite what you think it should be, you can read aloud and learn together, or your children can learn to teach themselves.

Low Cost

Would it surprise you if I told you that homeschooling can be free or nearly-free? There are options that can keep costs down, if you choose to use them. We spent very little on homeschooling. Each year we have purchased some items, but only because I wanted to, not because we needed them. Spending on curriculum should be done prayerfully, even if you can afford it, because many items are purchased and not used. Books can be resold, but usually for a fraction of what has been paid for them.

The Library

The library can save you a substantial amount of money and offers a cornucopia of books, from non-fiction for science and history to classic literature and biographies, as well as other materials as varied as current events magazines, research volumes, Shakespearean videos and tapes, painting technique videos, homeschooling programs, foreign language tapes, phonics tapes and computer equipment.

Christians are sometimes cautious about the library. But if you read-aloud, you can skip over objectionable parts. Recently I discovered that Charlotte Mason, in her book, A Philosophy of Education, also suggested this skipping of anything not appropriate for children. You could even skip the book entirely. If a book that you are reading has an anti-Biblical view, such as evolutionary theory, you can discuss what the Bible does say. Children need to know opposing thought to better defend the faith and become independent thinkers.

Another fine resource is the library in your home which you can build by finding high quality old books at auctions, garage sales, thrift stores, and library sales or right here at http://www.easyhomeschooing.com/rare-antique-books.htm l! We have been collected for so many years and had such great books here at home that we eventually used our own library more than the public library. I prefer this as it keeps us home and saves us time.

Reading Aloud

The actual schooling process begins with the basics - the skills that your children will need to use almost every day throughout their lives. Professionals' opinions back up our family's experiences - reading aloud gives children the best possible start in education.

An emphasis on the written word at all ages (especially important when very young) rather than on visual stimulation will result in bright children. Reading aloud or reading silently will "exercise" your child's brain as he builds hisvery own "pictures," based on the words that are read. When good books are read, those "pictures" will stir up proper judgment, rational thought and result in wise children with character. Contrariwise, with the visual, the work has been done for them. No need to think; no growth in maturity.

What if your children are not interested in hearing you read aloud, or in reading themselves? In this case, proclaim a fast from videos, TV and computers. Keep reading, and before long they will develop an appetite for good books.

Starting to Homeschool

If homeschooling is started when children normally start school (5-7), there can be an easing into routines. One subject can be taught at a time, staying with that subject until some measure of achievement is reached. Start with phonics, then, none at a time, go on to reading, handwriting, creative writing and finally basic math. This simple technique keeps the pressure off, which in turn keeps a love for learning alive. Moreover, there is only a minimum time requirement. If your child is older and you are taking him or her out of institutional schooling, there might be more time required at first. In order to find the time for homeschooling, you may have to make a decision to eliminate unnecessary activities, wasted time.

Teaching Phonics

All school subjects will be built upon the mastery of reading. Today many parents with children in public or private schools find themselves having to re-teach reading. This shouldn't be, as the school has the child many hours per day to teach this basic of basics. In the schools and in the home, the exclusive use of phonics will result in children who can read well.

There are many tools available for teaching phonics. But most are far too expensive. You can teach phonics for free! Mothers, tutors, and governesses have been teaching this way for hundreds of years. Your tools are a book such as a Bible, a paper and pencil or a black or white board. With your choice of tool, teach the sounds of the individual letters, starting with the short vowels. Then teach the consonants, and finally the combinations ("sh," "ch" and so forth). Then after your children know several letter sounds, use a simple playground slide diagram to help them blend the sounds into words. Write the "ch" at the top and the "at" at the bottom. Then tell your child to make the "ch" go down the slide and run into the "at." Go on to the long vowels. You can also emphasized patterns in groups of words (such as "gate," "mate," "grate" and "plate").

If you want to purchase a phonics course, I suggest Simply Phonics or Alpha-phonics.

As soon as your child knows how to read a few words, he or she needs practice. You can borrow Hop on Pop or similar phonics based books from the library, or use a simple phonics based reader. Don't try to use a Dick and Jane book. These see-say books have too many sight words in them, and will just frustrate your new reader. We used McGuffey's, which we received as an introductory offer from a book club. You needn't continue with reading classes until you have completed the books. I am very much against all the unnecessary work for both teacher and student that some "experts" consider to be part of a well rounded program. Such things as spelling and comprehension do not need to be learned separately. If a child is read to, learns to read phonetically, is read to, starts reading fluently, is read to, and continues to read individually, he or she will learn and learn well all the peripherals of our language.

Writing

Writing goes hand in hand with reading, for a winning "language arts" program. Encourage your children to be storytellers. If they can't yet write, write their stories down for them. If you have a tape recorder let them record their stories, and replay them. Have them draw a picture to go with their story. As soon as they can write, have them write their own stories, but don't pay any attention to errors at this point. You don't want to discourage them! If your children want you to spell the words for them, do it. Eventually they will know several words. Then you can point out those that are misspelled for them to learn. (Your student can either write each word ten times or spell them aloud several times to learn them.) Save all your students' papers, or at least the best ones - they will be treasures someday!

Arithmetic

For arithmetic make your own flashcards for drill. And for all other subjects, first plan what you want to teach over the school year. Then using the library or your own library, read-aloud together. Have your children tell back, or write on what you have read. We gathered for read-alouds sessions even when our children were perfectly capable of independent study.

After all, isn't being together as a family what homeschooling is all about?

If you have been thinking and praying about homeschooling, or if you have been feeling overwhelmed or financially burdened by what you think you must do - or must buy - to homeschool, I want to encourage you. Homeschooling need not be expensive nor difficult. The public schools give us a great example that spending does not equal quality education. A better choice is to use simple, tried and true techniques and reap the fruit of Godly, well-educated children.