By far, the easiest way of making sales is to build and maintain a mailing list. Once you have people in your list, they are a captive audience, and if you've built your list (or lists) properly, you know exactly what these people want.
If you search the net for opportunities to make money online, you can find a plethora of ebooks and videos showing you how to make your own products, modify PLR (Private Label Rights) products or find products to sell in affiliate programs etc.
These opportunites promise untold riches - $14000 in one month, $1000 a day etc. They are very attractive to the the newbies.
But when it comes to selling them, the information gets a bit thin on the ground. Suddenly, that online marketing opportunity which is ideal for newbies, isn't so ideal.
The reason the program worked for the author of the ebook (assuming he's being honest about the amount of money he has made), is that the author already had a large mailing list.
He writes an ebook about how he made $12000 in his first month, but he doesn't tell you that he already has a mailing list of 50,000 people, and a veritable army of affiliate resellers each with their own large lists.
It's true that if you follow the advice in the ebook you can make that sort of money, but only if you can get your message across to thousands upon thousands of people.
Without a mailing list, you're foundering on the rocks. You simply can't get the exposure for your product that the high-flying marketers can.
However, having said that, mailing lists are not the only way of marketing, and over the next week or so, I'll be covering alternative methods of marketing which will not only help you sell your product, but will start to build your list at the same time.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Free offer - blogging course
I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you get it for free if you post about it on your blog.
It covers:
- The best blogging techniques.
- How to get traffic to your blog.
- How to turn your blog into money.
I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.
By the way, that's a cunning marketing method, isn't it? I'll bet we see a lot more of that kind of thing in future.
Free guide to Cagora, the latest social networking site
Cagora is a new social-networking site based around communities. Each community can represent a geographical region, or a special interest.
For example, in Cagora I belong to the Bournemouth, UK community, but I also belong to the an Internet Marketing community.
In total, there are in excess of 20,000 different communities for you to join and meet like-minded people.
It's a great place to start finding contacts or customers for your online business.
With that many communities, when I joined I found I had difficulty finding my way around. But now I've found an excellent, FREE, ebook guide to Cagora, called "Discover Cagora - Social & Community Networking".
You can download it FREE from Here.
For example, in Cagora I belong to the Bournemouth, UK community, but I also belong to the an Internet Marketing community.
In total, there are in excess of 20,000 different communities for you to join and meet like-minded people.
It's a great place to start finding contacts or customers for your online business.
With that many communities, when I joined I found I had difficulty finding my way around. But now I've found an excellent, FREE, ebook guide to Cagora, called "Discover Cagora - Social & Community Networking".
You can download it FREE from Here.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Getting Started in an Online Business- Part 1.
This is the first post in a series about running your own online business. We aim to cover all aspects of running a successful website.
In this post, I'm going to cover Hosting.
Hosting is basically where you put your website.
Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) might supply you with some webspace on which you can put a website. This is usually part of the deal for having the account, so you don't pay extra for it.
Sadly, most free webspaces come with a lot of restrictions, which apart from the most simple of sales pages, do not lend themselves to the use of eCommerce.
And if your site becomes very popular, you will soon fall foul of the ISP's bandwidth limits and your site will either become temporarily unavailable, or you'll find a huge addition to your ISP's monthly bill.
For any serious website used for Online Marketing and eCommerce, you'll need an independent host. These are specialist companies that provide hosting services for commercial websites.
They are not very expensive - typically $10 per month - sometimes even less. However, the cheaper ones might not provide such a good service or support.
For most online marketing sites, you will need PHP and CRON services provided by your host. This lets you run scripts that will automate your business. After all, we don't want to work for a living, do we?
Don't worry if you don't know what PHP and CRON are. You don't need to know just yet. Just make sure that you have them.
Personally, I use HostGator for my hosting. Since I've been with them (more than one year now), I've never had a site become unavailable. Their support is very good and they even have online chat style support. Furthermore, for just $7.95 per month I can host unlimited domains (subject to the available disk space).
I also use a couple of other hosts, but they are actually HostGator resellers, which suggests to me that they can't be that bad!
There are many other hosting services. Google will find them for you.
Once you have your host, you will need to set up the Domain Name Servers for your domain.
But I'll cover domains in another post.
In this post, I'm going to cover Hosting.
Hosting is basically where you put your website.
Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) might supply you with some webspace on which you can put a website. This is usually part of the deal for having the account, so you don't pay extra for it.
Sadly, most free webspaces come with a lot of restrictions, which apart from the most simple of sales pages, do not lend themselves to the use of eCommerce.
And if your site becomes very popular, you will soon fall foul of the ISP's bandwidth limits and your site will either become temporarily unavailable, or you'll find a huge addition to your ISP's monthly bill.
For any serious website used for Online Marketing and eCommerce, you'll need an independent host. These are specialist companies that provide hosting services for commercial websites.
They are not very expensive - typically $10 per month - sometimes even less. However, the cheaper ones might not provide such a good service or support.
For most online marketing sites, you will need PHP and CRON services provided by your host. This lets you run scripts that will automate your business. After all, we don't want to work for a living, do we?
Don't worry if you don't know what PHP and CRON are. You don't need to know just yet. Just make sure that you have them.
Personally, I use HostGator for my hosting. Since I've been with them (more than one year now), I've never had a site become unavailable. Their support is very good and they even have online chat style support. Furthermore, for just $7.95 per month I can host unlimited domains (subject to the available disk space).
I also use a couple of other hosts, but they are actually HostGator resellers, which suggests to me that they can't be that bad!
There are many other hosting services. Google will find them for you.
Once you have your host, you will need to set up the Domain Name Servers for your domain.
But I'll cover domains in another post.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Idiot's Guide To Running a Website
I'm planning to cover a whole raft of topics on this blog, including HTML, Web Hosting, AutoResponders, PHP etc. Basically anything that you need to get an online business up and running.
I hope to cover them in a logical sequence that the beginner can follow.
With a lot of luck and a following wind, I'll start tomorrow with an overview of what running an online business entails.
Stay tuned...
I hope to cover them in a logical sequence that the beginner can follow.
With a lot of luck and a following wind, I'll start tomorrow with an overview of what running an online business entails.
Stay tuned...
Friday, February 15, 2008
New blog is online...
My Computing and Technology blog software has been installed in its new domain.
It still needs a bit of tweaking, and some content adding, so it's not quite ready to go yet.
I'll be using a number of plug-ins, which all need to be configured, and the raw theme that I'm using is a little dull, so that will be getting a lick of digital paint.
This blog will remain here and will revert back to its original topic of online marketing, from which it has deviated somewhat.
It started out as a log of my efforts to make money online. Most of those attempts have been fairly fruitless so far because I was kind of like the blind being led by no-one.
In the meantime, I've met some great guys along the way and have a much better idea of what to do to get started with a viable, online business.
So, whether you're into technology or making money online, or both, keep coming back here, and/or visit my new blog at Phil's Techno Talk.
It still needs a bit of tweaking, and some content adding, so it's not quite ready to go yet.
I'll be using a number of plug-ins, which all need to be configured, and the raw theme that I'm using is a little dull, so that will be getting a lick of digital paint.
This blog will remain here and will revert back to its original topic of online marketing, from which it has deviated somewhat.
It started out as a log of my efforts to make money online. Most of those attempts have been fairly fruitless so far because I was kind of like the blind being led by no-one.
In the meantime, I've met some great guys along the way and have a much better idea of what to do to get started with a viable, online business.
So, whether you're into technology or making money online, or both, keep coming back here, and/or visit my new blog at Phil's Techno Talk.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Article Site security warning
This is very important. Not one of our usual topics, but you really must take heed.
I am sorry to be the bringer of bad news, I am not a scare monger, this is very real! At the beginning of the year, Article-Content-King was hacked, the hackers got all the way to server Admin, but luckily I was also in there too when they were trying to do damage and we managed to lock them out before they could, but still it took a few more days to completely secure the script files.
I was not so lucky with my other server. I had the same script installed several times on that server, and I wasn't there when they were doing the damage. I lost EVERYTHING ON THE SERVER not just the accounts that were "hackable".
Through the security hole in this script, every account on the server was lost. The hackers got all the way into server admin created themselves a user. They had the ability to do what ever they wanted and they wanted to destroy the server. I have absolutely no clue why I would be attacked in this way. I think it is just because they managed to get in and took it as far as they could.
Your site (every domain you own) could be at risk from this even if you have secured your script with the patch and even if you do not have the script installed at all. If you have any domains on shared hosting they are at risk. If there is a chance that another user of the same server has an unsafe installation of this script set up, your domains are at risk.
Lets look at what this script is and how it has been marketed in the 3 years since it was first made available. (or is it 4). This script is not really sold to people who want an article directory, it is mainly sold to Internet marketers looking for an easy passive income site. I managed to buy it for $1 on e-bay 2 weeks ago when I first looked at making the patch for the untouched files. People are still reselling it now at least 3 years on.
There is no telling how many people have installed this script over the years and completely forgotten about it. I don't know about you, but I tend to install all the scripts I get in PLR packages to test them out. I don't use them all and I don't (or didn't) always delete them if I decide not to use them.
Out of the "500" who originally bought this script as part of sourcecodegold mine, how many have this script installed somewhere and forgotten about it. How many others have done so since? How can you be sure you are safe if someone else on the same server as you hasn't secured their script? If server admin is compromised then every account is at risk, no matter how secure.
As Online Marketers we all tend to see the same hosting offers, this makes the chance of someone having an insecure script set up somewhere on a shared hosting account even greater! But there is no telling how far and wide this script could be installed, nor is there any real way of you finding out if you are sharing a server with a insecure site.
This is the reality in any case, and one of the main reasons why I do not use shared hosting, but when you know it can happen and do not do anything about it, you do everyone a disservice.
I am really not trying to cause a panic here, but the threat is very real!
We need to get word out about the SecureArticleBeach membership site to everyone who may have this script installed and get them to download the free patch. You won't really be safe until everyone has.
Please post this message on your blog and let your subscribers and customers know. Even people who have never even heard of this script could be at risk.
Respectfully
Dan Blackburn
Please post this message on your blog, the fix is simple and available FREE from http://www.SecureArticleBeach.com
Article Source: http://www.article-content-king.com
Article-Content-King Beat The Hackers! (Almost)
I am sorry to be the bringer of bad news, I am not a scare monger, this is very real! At the beginning of the year, Article-Content-King was hacked, the hackers got all the way to server Admin, but luckily I was also in there too when they were trying to do damage and we managed to lock them out before they could, but still it took a few more days to completely secure the script files.
I was not so lucky with my other server. I had the same script installed several times on that server, and I wasn't there when they were doing the damage. I lost EVERYTHING ON THE SERVER not just the accounts that were "hackable".
This security hole could be more serious than you think! Please read and act accordingly.
Through the security hole in this script, every account on the server was lost. The hackers got all the way into server admin created themselves a user. They had the ability to do what ever they wanted and they wanted to destroy the server. I have absolutely no clue why I would be attacked in this way. I think it is just because they managed to get in and took it as far as they could.
Your site (every domain you own) could be at risk from this even if you have secured your script with the patch and even if you do not have the script installed at all. If you have any domains on shared hosting they are at risk. If there is a chance that another user of the same server has an unsafe installation of this script set up, your domains are at risk.
Lets look at what this script is and how it has been marketed in the 3 years since it was first made available. (or is it 4). This script is not really sold to people who want an article directory, it is mainly sold to Internet marketers looking for an easy passive income site. I managed to buy it for $1 on e-bay 2 weeks ago when I first looked at making the patch for the untouched files. People are still reselling it now at least 3 years on.
There is no telling how many people have installed this script over the years and completely forgotten about it. I don't know about you, but I tend to install all the scripts I get in PLR packages to test them out. I don't use them all and I don't (or didn't) always delete them if I decide not to use them.
Out of the "500" who originally bought this script as part of sourcecodegold mine, how many have this script installed somewhere and forgotten about it. How many others have done so since? How can you be sure you are safe if someone else on the same server as you hasn't secured their script? If server admin is compromised then every account is at risk, no matter how secure.
As Online Marketers we all tend to see the same hosting offers, this makes the chance of someone having an insecure script set up somewhere on a shared hosting account even greater! But there is no telling how far and wide this script could be installed, nor is there any real way of you finding out if you are sharing a server with a insecure site.
This is the reality in any case, and one of the main reasons why I do not use shared hosting, but when you know it can happen and do not do anything about it, you do everyone a disservice.
I am really not trying to cause a panic here, but the threat is very real!
We need to get word out about the SecureArticleBeach membership site to everyone who may have this script installed and get them to download the free patch. You won't really be safe until everyone has.
Please post this message on your blog and let your subscribers and customers know. Even people who have never even heard of this script could be at risk.
Respectfully
Dan Blackburn
Please post this message on your blog, the fix is simple and available FREE from http://www.SecureArticleBeach.com
Article Source: http://www.article-content-king.com
New blog coming soon
I am currently working on setting up a new blog, similar to this one, but with a whole lot more.
I shall be inviting authors in the same field to contribute articles, and as an added incentive, the Google AdSense adverts on the pages that include their articles will use the author's AdSense ID. This means that the authors will not only enjoy links to their sites from their resource boxes, but may also benefit from a boost to their income stream from Google AdSense.
To implement these changes, I'm going to have to move from this free Blogger account to a hosted blog.
The new blog will be in the Computing category, so it will cover much more than this blog. This blog will remain, but its emphasis will be on computing and online marketing.
I'll let you know when the new blog is up and running.
I shall be inviting authors in the same field to contribute articles, and as an added incentive, the Google AdSense adverts on the pages that include their articles will use the author's AdSense ID. This means that the authors will not only enjoy links to their sites from their resource boxes, but may also benefit from a boost to their income stream from Google AdSense.
To implement these changes, I'm going to have to move from this free Blogger account to a hosted blog.
The new blog will be in the Computing category, so it will cover much more than this blog. This blog will remain, but its emphasis will be on computing and online marketing.
I'll let you know when the new blog is up and running.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Free ebook of the month
There's a new feature on my blog starting today; Free eBook of the Month.
These are simply there for the taking.
If I come up with more freebies, it might change to Free eBook of the Week.
You'll find it at the top of the right-hand column.
This month, it's Google Adwords Made Easy. It contains some simple strategies for improving your success with AdWords. So many people dive into the AdWords pool only to find that they end up spending more money than they earn. This ebook shows you how to avoid the sharks and piranhas once you've dipped your toe in.
It's a ZIPped file to reduce download time. You should know how to handle ZIP files by now.
These are simply there for the taking.
If I come up with more freebies, it might change to Free eBook of the Week.
You'll find it at the top of the right-hand column.
This month, it's Google Adwords Made Easy. It contains some simple strategies for improving your success with AdWords. So many people dive into the AdWords pool only to find that they end up spending more money than they earn. This ebook shows you how to avoid the sharks and piranhas once you've dipped your toe in.
It's a ZIPped file to reduce download time. You should know how to handle ZIP files by now.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
More on the free cloaking tool
I just discovered a third, even quicker way of setting up a cloaked affiliate link, so I'll be adding it to QuickLink shortly.
It's not far from completion now. We're putting the finishing touches to the online help (no expense spared on this project), and testing a new way of branding the software so that you can redistribute it to your own customers, complete with your own dynamic advertising stream built in.
It's not far from completion now. We're putting the finishing touches to the online help (no expense spared on this project), and testing a new way of branding the software so that you can redistribute it to your own customers, complete with your own dynamic advertising stream built in.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
eBay Tips The FeedBack Balance
eBay has decided that from May 2008, Sellers will not be able to leave negative or neutral feedback about buyers.
However, the reverse is not true. Buyers will still be able to leave negative or neutral comments about sellers.
This is somewhat unfair. I've been on both sides of eBay transactions, and it's not always the seller who is at fault. There are some complete idiots who go around ebay bidding on things they never plan to buy. When they win, they don't pay and they refuse to contact you.
Others don't read the auction details properly and end up disappointed when the product is not what they expected.
The only recourse is to take the matter directly to eBay for arbitration. They say that they will remove people who do not comply. So negative feedback has turned into eviction from the system. Ok, these people may be idiots, but that's a bit harsh. Whatever happened to rehabilitation of offenders?
eBay say that many buyers would not leave negative comments for fear that sellers would retaliate.
I guess this is true for some sellers, but we shouldn't all be tarred with the same brush.
However, the reverse is not true. Buyers will still be able to leave negative or neutral comments about sellers.
This is somewhat unfair. I've been on both sides of eBay transactions, and it's not always the seller who is at fault. There are some complete idiots who go around ebay bidding on things they never plan to buy. When they win, they don't pay and they refuse to contact you.
Others don't read the auction details properly and end up disappointed when the product is not what they expected.
The only recourse is to take the matter directly to eBay for arbitration. They say that they will remove people who do not comply. So negative feedback has turned into eviction from the system. Ok, these people may be idiots, but that's a bit harsh. Whatever happened to rehabilitation of offenders?
eBay say that many buyers would not leave negative comments for fear that sellers would retaliate.
I guess this is true for some sellers, but we shouldn't all be tarred with the same brush.
Viral Marketing Links That Never Expire
Have you ever acquired an ebook or a software program that's maybe a couple of years old and found that half of the links in it simply don't work?
Basically what's happened is that the vendor has squeezed every cent out of that product and it's not selling any more. Consequently, the vendor has abandoned whatever the links point to and moved onto something else.
That's ok for the vendor - he's made his money and is now making money from something else.
It's not so good for the poor customer who obtains the product from one of the many downline resellers a couple of years later.
Now what if you could market a product that contains hyperlinks that never expire?
If you move onto something else, the hyperlinks change to point to something else.
The product becomes dynamic - every time it runs or is viewed, the ads could be different. Even if it's 2, 3, 5 or 10 years down the line, the ads could point to fresh new material.
It can be done, and I'm working on two ways that can make it happen. The first is in software products, and the latest is in ebooks.
I'm not going to reveal how it's done here - I believe there's a valuable ebook to be written on the subject. I'll be writing that ebook over the next few weeks, as well as producing some example programs and ebooks.
In fact, the ebook that reveals how it's done is likely to be the very first ebook with dynamic advertisements.
Stay tuned to find out more...
Basically what's happened is that the vendor has squeezed every cent out of that product and it's not selling any more. Consequently, the vendor has abandoned whatever the links point to and moved onto something else.
That's ok for the vendor - he's made his money and is now making money from something else.
It's not so good for the poor customer who obtains the product from one of the many downline resellers a couple of years later.
There's a better way
Now what if you could market a product that contains hyperlinks that never expire?
If you move onto something else, the hyperlinks change to point to something else.
The product becomes dynamic - every time it runs or is viewed, the ads could be different. Even if it's 2, 3, 5 or 10 years down the line, the ads could point to fresh new material.
It can be done, and I'm working on two ways that can make it happen. The first is in software products, and the latest is in ebooks.
I'm not going to reveal how it's done here - I believe there's a valuable ebook to be written on the subject. I'll be writing that ebook over the next few weeks, as well as producing some example programs and ebooks.
In fact, the ebook that reveals how it's done is likely to be the very first ebook with dynamic advertisements.
Stay tuned to find out more...
Monday, February 04, 2008
Should Microsoft take over Yahoo?
On the BBC News website, they posed the question "Will Yahoo benefit from a takeover by Microsoft?".
Is that really the point?
Surely it should be "Will the users benefit from....".
Of course Yahoo will benefit - or at least the owners will. They'll end up with a big, fat wad of money.
Will Microsoft benefit? Of course. Along with Yahoo, they've been struggling to gain market share of the Search Engine Business - totally peeved by Google's dominance.
Will the users benefit? Maybe. Maybe not. Those who dislike Microsoft will start to migrate - probably to Google. Those who use Microsoft's search engine already will initially benefit from a larger database and get improved results.
Those who Google almost exclusively (myself included) will probably not notice any difference and will continue to Google.
I can't see Google losing any of their share of the market, and there's a distinct possibility that they will gain from it.
Will the bosses of Google have any sleepless nights? Probably, but not too many. They're already objecting to the possible takeover. But anyone in a strong position will protect their territory.
Of course there is always the possibility that they are objecting so that the whole process gets drawn out over a few years and Yahoo or Microsoft pull out of the deal.
Will it affect online marketing? Not very much. It might swing SEO a little towards Yahoo and MSN Search, but otherwise it won't make much difference. After all, the bottom line is that online marketers don't care which search engine you came from as long as you buy something!
Is that really the point?
Surely it should be "Will the users benefit from....".
Of course Yahoo will benefit - or at least the owners will. They'll end up with a big, fat wad of money.
Will Microsoft benefit? Of course. Along with Yahoo, they've been struggling to gain market share of the Search Engine Business - totally peeved by Google's dominance.
Will the users benefit? Maybe. Maybe not. Those who dislike Microsoft will start to migrate - probably to Google. Those who use Microsoft's search engine already will initially benefit from a larger database and get improved results.
Those who Google almost exclusively (myself included) will probably not notice any difference and will continue to Google.
I can't see Google losing any of their share of the market, and there's a distinct possibility that they will gain from it.
Will the bosses of Google have any sleepless nights? Probably, but not too many. They're already objecting to the possible takeover. But anyone in a strong position will protect their territory.
Of course there is always the possibility that they are objecting so that the whole process gets drawn out over a few years and Yahoo or Microsoft pull out of the deal.
Will it affect online marketing? Not very much. It might swing SEO a little towards Yahoo and MSN Search, but otherwise it won't make much difference. After all, the bottom line is that online marketers don't care which search engine you came from as long as you buy something!
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Free link-cloaking utility coming soon
After one of my online marketing buddies had a few problems creating a cloaked link for an affiliate program he was in, I decided that it might be useful to write a small program to create them automatically.
So within the space of a couple of lunch-breaks at work, I put together QuickCloak.
Basically, you enter your affiliate link, add a few optional details about your web site/domain, and click the Cloak button.
QuickCloak then instantly generates two different cloaked link redirectors.
The first is a PHP one. This is useful to anyone who has PHP available on their website hosting service. But if you don't, there's no need to worry because QuickCloak also creates an HTML version.
Either way, you simply promote a link that looks as if it's part of your website. There's nothing to give it away as being an affiliate link. This gives your customers the confidence that what they are buying is one of your own products, and it also stops theives from stealing your commission by replacing your affiliate link with theirs.
You will be able to obtain a free copy of QuickCloak simply by signing up for my newsletter.
Expected release date: This week. Keep checking back!
So within the space of a couple of lunch-breaks at work, I put together QuickCloak.
Basically, you enter your affiliate link, add a few optional details about your web site/domain, and click the Cloak button.
QuickCloak then instantly generates two different cloaked link redirectors.
The first is a PHP one. This is useful to anyone who has PHP available on their website hosting service. But if you don't, there's no need to worry because QuickCloak also creates an HTML version.
Either way, you simply promote a link that looks as if it's part of your website. There's nothing to give it away as being an affiliate link. This gives your customers the confidence that what they are buying is one of your own products, and it also stops theives from stealing your commission by replacing your affiliate link with theirs.
You will be able to obtain a free copy of QuickCloak simply by signing up for my newsletter.
Expected release date: This week. Keep checking back!
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