How to pick a domain name

When you are creating a website one of the most important decisions you have to make is what to choose for a domain name.  You domain name informs visitors about the content of your website.  It also plays a big role in SEO and influences where you will appear in the search engines.

Finding an ideal domain name

Unfortunately, these days it can be hard to find a domain name that is still available and also sounds good.  If you have the money sometimes you can purchase the domain name from the current owner.  Unfortunately, this option isn’t a possibility for everyone.

Some domain name registrars provide tools for finding similar sounding domain names that are available (such as GoDaddy).  Such tools can be helpful when finding your domain name.

Keyword targeted or not

Your domain name plays a large role in how your site is ranked in Google.  Sometimes Google will rank your site high for a certain keyword simply because it appears in your domain name.  If you are creating a website around a specific niche, having your niche keyword in your domain name can go a long way to generating traffic.

However, having a keyword in your domain name will limit what you can put on your site.  If you want to have a more general website then it isn’t necessary to have a keyword in your domain name.  A lot of people simply use their own name and add ‘reviews’ or ‘site’ at the end.  This approach can also help make your site appear more personal.

On a personal note, I would avoid using domain names that are too long, have too many keywords in them, or contain the words ‘make money’ :).  This can interfere with how you promote your website.  For example, leaving a link to your website in a forum or blog comment just makes your entry look like spam.

Where to buy a domain name

There are many places to buy domain names.  Personally I like to use GoDaddy – both for purchasing domain names as well as for hosting my websites.  They have good tools for finding available domain names, good customer support, and comprehensive resources for setting up and managing a website.  Click here to visit them now.

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The Importance of Providing Quality Content

I was just on Google’s Webmaster Central Blog reading a post about web spam.  This is an important topic for anyone who is interested in marketing online.  For many, especially people new to online marketing, the idea of quick cash can be enticing.  This leads people to do all sorts of crazy things to try and get ranked in the search engines.

Internet spam techniques

While spam can take many forms I’m going to talk about a few techniques that people use to help get their site ranked in the search engines.

When promoting your website there are many factors that are considered important that can help you show up in the search engines.  One factor that is considered important is keyword targeted back links.

Google considers links to your website from other websites as a vote for the quality of your site.  It seems natural to think that if someone else is willing to link to your website then you must have something interesting to say.  Furthermore, the anchor text of the link to your website also gives Google an idea of what other people think your website is about.

It is true that it is important to get quality back links to your website if you want to improve your rank in the search engines.  However, some people take a somewhat short sighted view of this and create websites with the sole purpose of having keyword targeted back links to their website but which offer no other value.

To achieve this people will create a website with page after page of nonsense with the occasional keyword targeted link pointing to their website.  This technique is very easy and relatively inexpensive to do.

I don’t recommend doing it, though because Google can detect it.  And if their algorithms miss a site they have a page for people to report spam.  If Google thinks you are spamming the web they will just stop showing your website in the search results altogether.

Sustainable profitability

Let me ask you a question: would you rather have $100 dollars tomorrow or $100 a day, every day, but only after three months from now?  Many spammers don’t realize that this is the type of decision they are making.

When it comes to making money online you need to think long term.  Creating quality content requires effort, but so does spam.  The difference is that spam will quickly be detected and removed from the search results (and your website will likely be put in the Google sandbox, never to be seen in the search results again).  Google also has systems in place that for people to report spam.  Google reviews these reports and tweaks their algorithms to remove spam.

If you are depending on spam to promote your website then you are drastically limiting your income potential – both short term and long term.  You are also risking having your site de-listed altogether.

Internet marketing without spam

When you are deciding on ways to promote your website always consider the following points:

  • Does this technique look like spam?
  • Does this technique add value?
  • Will this be considered spam in the future?

Always choose techniques that are known and accepted, look natural to the search engines, and most of all add value to the internet.  There is no shortage of techniques to get back links, and there are many other effective ways to promote your website (such as article marketing).  If you do everything in an honest and upfront manner your site will show up in the search engines and you will get traffic.  It just takes a bit of time, patience, and consistent effort.

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Make Money Part Time Action Plan

If you want to make some money in your spare time then the most important skill you need to develop is how to manage your time.  But before you can manage your time you need to have a clear picture of what you want to do with your time.  This is why goal setting is an important part of time management.

Know what you want

For the purposes of this website I’m going to assume that one of your goals is to make money online.  This is an excellent goal but having it does not lend itself to proper time management – in fact it does the opposite.

The problem is ‘make money online’ is not something you can schedule.  You need to break this goal down into sub-goals, and break those goals down even further until you arrive at a concrete plan of action.

Make money online action plan

Here is a sample action plan to get started making money online.  The bullet points are goals and sub-goals.  The numbered points are the actionable items that you would follow to achieve the goal.

  • Learn online marketing
    • Read about different techniques and strategies related to online marketing
      1. Find resources about online marketing and read them
      2. As you become more familiar with the material choose a topic and dive into it
      3. Join Wealthy Affiliate for their training resources and tools
    • Connect with people who already do online marketing
      1. Make a list of questions to ask which aren’t already addressed in the training material
      2. Find people to ask – forums, websites, etc.
    • Develop your own unique approach to online marketing
  • Choose a product and a niche
  • Choose a marketing method: PPC, article marketing, social marketing, etc.
  • Set up a website
  • Set up your mailing list
    • Register with an email manager such as AWeber.
    • Create your auto-responder sequence.
    • Add signup forms to your website
  • Implement your marketing method and continue adding content

Schedule your tasks

The above steps are far from detailed.  This is because your plan will be unique to you.  It is up to you to fill in the blanks.  And filling in the blanks should be the first thing you do to get started.

Once you know what steps you need to take you can schedule them in whatever time you have available to work on your money making activities.  As you complete them cross them off your list.  Remember to be realistic and don’t over schedule yourself.

If you ever find yourself not sure what to do next then consult your action plan.  If your action plan doesn’t have a concrete next step to do then spend some time working on your action plan filling in the next pieces.  If there is a concrete step there then get started now.

You will find that you will spend your time going back and forth between planning your next steps and implementing them.  This is normal but don’t get too absorbed in your planning – focus on your income producing activities as much as possible.

Final words

Making money online requires a lot of ongoing consistent effort.  While it is possible to make money online part time you still need to commit to working on it every day if possible.  This will likely require some sacrifice on your part but in the long run you stand to benefit in ways that aren’t currently available to you and possibly in ways you can’t even imagine.

I will end here with one of my favorite quotes regarding this:

I do today what others won’t so tomorrow I can do what others can’t

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Affiliate Marketing – What is it and how to get started

When it comes to making money online affiliate marketing is one of the most accessible and most profitable choices available today.  Affiliate marketing is supported by both small companies as well as huge corporations.  There are many individuals who make an excellent income practicing affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing: What is it?

Many companies turn to the internet to sell products.  For some companies this is their only way of selling products, for others, the internet supplements a regular ‘brick and mortar’ store.

The problem is that because there is so much stuff on the internet it can be difficult for people to research and find the products they want as well as the companies that sell them.  This creates an opportunity to help people find the information they need and connect them to an appropriate company to make a purchase.

An affiliate marketer helps fill the gap by gathering information about products and helping people make a purchase decision.  This provides value to people by:

  • Reducing their search time
  • Helps them overcome information overload
  • Provides information they are looking for in an easy to understand format
  • Connects shoppers to the ideal company or product for their needs

This information is generally provided in the form of reviews, product comparisons, articles, videos, or any other way of conveying relevant information online.

How to: Affiliate marketing techniques and strategies

There are many ways to engage in affiliate marketing.  At its core, it involves the following two components:

  1. Present your message online. This can be done through many free online content providers such as squidoo, hubpages, blogger, and others.

    The best strategy is to create your own website.  This gives you full control over your content and allows you to add more value (and marketing opportunities) through techniques such as email marketing.

    Setting up your own website is not as difficult as it sounds.  There are many easy to use tools that will help you create and maintain your content.  For example, it is easy to create a professional looking website with WordPress.

  2. Make your message available to people searching for relevant information. Once you have a place to provide your information you need to help people find it.  This can involve implementing SEO techniques to be found in the search engines, article marketing, PPC campaigns, social media marketing, and many others.

    Because there are so many options for promoting your content it is easy to find a strategy that works for you that is also effective.

Before you get started setting up your campaign it is important that you do proper research to ensure your success.

Guide to affiliate marketing research

Doing proper research before implementing a campaign is crucial to your success.  Before starting you need to learn about the following things:

  • Make sure there are enough people interested in buying the things you want to sell.  Without enough buyers you can’t make a significant profit
  • Find quality affiliate products for your niche that you want to promote
  • Gather information about the products you will be promoting
  • Understand your target market – what makes them want to buy, what are they looking for, what is hot right now, etc.
  • What search terms people use when looking for products in your niche

Being better prepared before hand will make your whole marketing campaign run smoother and help ensure that it will be profitable enough to justify your effort.

Making money: Affiliate marketing income generation

Your goal in all this is to provide quality information to the people who are looking for your products.  If you do this correctly then you will make money.  There are several ways that money can be made from your marketing campaigns.

Depending on your niche you may have many affiliate products to choose from.  Choosing the most profitable product isn’t always the best choice for making the most money.  If your product is bad then people will remember this and your business will suffer.  If you product is good you will gain the trust of your visitors who may recommend you to others as well as purchase other products from you.

I highly recommend that you create a mailing list as part of your marketing efforts.  This will keep you in touch with your target market, provide the opportunity to give more valuable information (which builds trust), and also allows you to promote the occasional quality product which will generate more income for you.

You can also place advertising on your website using a system such as Google AdSense.  Google will display ads on your web pages.  When someone clicks on an ad you get some money.  This is an easy way to increase your profits but it can have the negative effect of distracting from your main message and taking people away from your site before they’ve made a purchase.

Learn about affiliate marketing: Best online resources

What I’ve provided here is a general overview of affiliate marketing.  If you are serious about making money and want to learn all that is necessary then you need to connect with a quality training resource.

There is a lot of information around the internet and on this website that will provide you with more information.  However, in my experience, picking up bits and pieces of information from different sources can lead to information overload.  Having too much information can actually make it more difficult to put together a coherent marketing campaign from beginning to end.

I suggest finding a good online training resource that includes quality information, support, and tools.  Personally I recommend Wealthy Affiliate – they are a comprehensive website that will teach you everything you need to know to be successful online.

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Blog Post Ideas – How to Find Topics That Attract Readers

If you run a blog you are bound to run out of ideas from time to time.  Consistently writing interesting content related to your website theme or niche is a must but it can be challenging at times.  I’ve put together a strategy here that will ensure you never run out of excellent ideas that your readers will be interested in.

Keep an ideas file

Before I get into how to find interesting topics you need a way to track your ideas.  I keep a file on my computer where I write down topics as I come across them.  Whenever I’m not sure what to write about I review my file and pick what interests me at the time.

Search for it

One of the easiest ways to get ideas related to the theme of your website is to simply search for it in your favorite search engine and see what you get.

See what other people are writing about and look for ways that you can say it better.  I’m not saying copy them – I’m saying outdo them.  You can take the same topic but write it from your perspective with your insights and experience.

Another good place to search is Wikipedia.  You can read over the topic page of your blog theme or even search for related topics.  If you scroll to the bottom of any Wikipedia entry you can find a ‘See Also’ section for related information, a ‘References’ section for more in depth information, and an ‘External Links’ section which will take you to related websites.  All these resources can be used for developing topic ideas as well as gathering content ideas.

Look in a directory

The internet is full of directories.  These resources allow you to select a category and search through sub-categories, and sub-sub-categories, and so on.  You are bound to find some aspect of your website theme that you can write about.  Here are some directories you can use:

Also look around for directories that are related specifically to your website theme.  You may be able to find a resource specific to your topic.  You may even be able to find one in this directory of directories.

If it makes sense for your website you can also search commercial directories such as any of the following:

Keep Learning

I find that as long as I’m learning new things related to the topic of my website I always have something I want to talk about with my readers.  This can be in the form of reading a book related to my subject (or listening to an audio book), watching informational videos, read information on line, take a course, and talk with experts.  I’m sure you can find even more ways if you think about it.

You can also talk about your personal experiences – good or bad – as both are learning experiences.  You can talk about mistakes you’ve made and what you learned from them or success you’ve had and what you did to achieve them.

QA Sites

This technique will not only give you ideas for what to write about but it will also give you an opportunity to instantly get some back links.

Visit a question and answer website and search for questions related to your website theme.  Find questions that are either unanswered or that don’t have very good answers.  These questions are a good way to find out what people want to know.

Research an answer for the question.  In my experience many of the questions asked can easily be answered by visiting Wikipedia.  Write a blog post that addresses the question.

To get a back link just go back to the website, answer the question (or questions) and drop a link to your website as a reference.  As long as you are not spamming this is generally fine – in fact some of the QA sites request that you leave a link to your source.

Here are some QA sites you can use:

You can also check this comprehensive roundup of Q&A sites.

Forums

Forums are a good place to see what people are interested in.  You can gather information about what people are talking about, see what questions they have, and get a better understanding of what topics are hot.

You can also use the same trick I described above for the QA sites but make sure you read the forum guidelines first – they may not like you putting links into your posts.

To find forums related to a specific topic just search for the topic along with the word ‘forum’.

Revisit an old topic

You can always revisit an old blog post you’ve made and some more information that you’ve learned, or experiences you’ve had, since posting it the first time.  This allows you to provide more insight into the topic for your readers.  It can also encourage them to stay on your website longer because they will go and read the initial post as well.

Conclusion

Consistently writing interesting and unique content is crucial for the success of your website.  If you follow these ideas you are bound to get visitors and a thriving website.

If you want to fast track your success you can always actively promote your website as well.  This will encourage more visitors to stop by your site.  Having more visitors commenting on your posts is also another good way to get ideas about what your visitors want to read about on your website.

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