Getting Started Online – Online Business Ideas For Beginners – Part I

There are many business models for an Online Business. It is often the Internet Business beginner’s daunting task to find these various business ideas, understand how they work, and learn ways to profit with them. It is also difficult to decide which model will work best for YOU.

In this first article I will explain 2 of the most popular online business types. I think they are a good starting point for online business newbies. The models I chose here are well-known, easy to learn, and there is an abundance of information that you can find, for little or no cost, to help you get started. These models are ideal if you are starting out with little or no start up money and limited internet experience.

FREELANCING

The first of this type is Freelancing. Once thought to be available only to the writers and artists of the world, freelancing is fast becoming one of the most popular ways to make money online. Sites like Elance, oDesk, Guru, and Rent-A-Coder have made it extremely easy to get started to get up and running with a freelancer profile in less than a few hours. Some of the most popular freelance openings are:

Writers – These include article and report writers, eBook writers, blog posters, forum posters, copy writers, review writers and much more.

Researchers – Web researchers have grown in popularity to become one of the most sought after freelancers. Research takes time and today’s online marketers would rather spend that time on other tasks and outsource the research tasks to others. This area of freelance requires no more than internet access, a computer, and time.

Graphic Artist – Logo design, banner creation and web page design is a great way to get started in freelancing. Perhaps your background and education is in this area OR you just enjoy it as a hobby. Either way, graphic artists do very well in freelance.

Programmers – This includes every aspect of programming. It seems this area is a mystery to many and those who need this service are willing to pay very good money for a good programmer.

Freelancing jobs are abundant. Check out the sites listed above and for more information about getting started. You can also check out Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams
by Pamela Skillings. Skillings is an author and career coach who writes about her escape from the corporate world and discussed how others can do the same.

AFFILIATE MARKETING

In a nutshell Affiliate Marketing can be defined as commissioned sales online. The difference with Affiliate Marketing is that you do not need to have a sales background to get started and you do not have to do any of that dreaded cold calling or the face to face sales pitch.

Affiliate Marketers are promoters of other people’s products and services. They make a commission based on the type of product or service and that company’s affiliate program. Many of these programs are very generous offering up to 75% commission per sale.

So what types of products or services can you promote? Just about anything! eBooks, websites, dog grooming products, electronics, outdoor furniture and many consumer products that you probably use yourself have affiliate programs available. You can look for affiliate programs on some of your favorite sites. Just look in the headers, footers, or sidebars of these sites for links called AFFILIATES, AFFILIATE PROGRAMS, or PROMOTE.

Another way to find these programs is through Affiliate Retail Outlets like Clickbank and Commission Junction. These sites offer Marketplaces where you an locate 100s of products and services to promote.

How do you promote these products once you find them? There are many ways to promote as an Affiliate. If you have a website or blog you can post banner ads on your site or you can promote through list building and email marketing. Review sites are another great way to promote products. You can create a brief review and then offer the product you are promoting within the article. You can even promote products without a website through Pay-Per-Click advertising or Article Marketing.

Affiliate Marketing is one of my favorite online business models because you can get started for very little money and with limited experience. If this seems like it might interest you then I recommend you check out Rosalind Gardner’s “The Super Affiliate Handbook”. It was the first book I read on Affiliate Marketing and it is one of the most comprehensive guides on the market today. Rosalind just updated her handbook in September 2009 with the most up-to-date techniques for Affiliate Marketers. It is required reading for any new affiliate.

Freelancing and Affiliate Marketing are two great ways to get started making money online. They are very appealing to the beginner because they require little or no money to get started and are suited for individuals with a variety of experience levels.

In the next article I will discuss more online business ideas including creating your own saleable product, micro sites, and pay-per-click. Check back soon!

Ancora Imparo!

Generating Website Traffic – Viral Marketing Techniques Can Build Traffic

This is going to be the last article in the Generating Website Traffic series.

Please also be sure to read the first two articles in this series, The Power of Inbound Links and Consistent, Quality Content, to learn even more ways to drive traffic to your site.

In this last segment we are going to examine Viral Marketing Techniques that you can use for traffic generation.

One of the most valuable means of creating traffic flow to your site with little input from you is viral marketing. With it, you are able to send a marketing message to select recipients, who can then pass the message along to other individuals. This type of marketing is simple and cost-efficient, making it suitable to almost any budget.

When your products are high quality, your message is conveyed to a large number of individuals.

Online marketers have a desire to introduce excellent products and/or services to their own customers. For that reason, the more appeal your products/services hold, the faster you will spread your marketing message. This creates very high traffic to your site.

To launch your viral marketing crusade, create e-books, articles, and/or reports and send them to specific recipients without charge. This simply encompasses designing a product/tool, passing it on, and then allowing someone else to carry it on more, so any online marketer can do it.

Prime illustrations of viral marketing:

Present good quality products and/or tools that present your best marketing message. Create reports and e-books that are researched well and be sure to include your URL on each one. Most people enjoy receiving e-books and reports without charge. They should offer excellent information on your subject so that those who read them will want to visit your site. Those that enjoy what you’ve sent will redistribute the material, resulting in more traffic flow in addition to heightened product or business marketing. You can also offer a free service or product on your web site that spreads your message to an increasing number of people who hear about it. Send out news releases concerning the free service or product available on your site. This in turn will generate huge volumes of traffic to your website.

It can also be beneficial to create an affiliate program that offers links to your service or product. If you are able to afford them, offer financial incentives for those sites that are willing to pass on your unique marketing message to others. Allow Internet marketers to distribute your URL on their own lists by adding something such as a “recommend” or “refer” option on the site. You can generate tremendous traffic with an affiliate program promoting your site.

Make use of traffic-exchange programs to exchange site links with Internet marketers like you. Adding your site’s link to another website allows those who are interested to bookmark your site, or pass it along to others who might be interested in your subject material or product.

Create superior articles and request that webmasters post them without charge as site content.   If you are (or consider yourself to be) and expert in your field, create a report about that field and post it as free content on related sites, being certain to add your URL to the report. Distribute your best quality articles on sites that allow you to retain the reprinting rights, and more directories, e-zines, and newsletters with publish them, including your author resource box and company URL. In this manner, the URL is trafficked all across the web, generating a massive flow of traffic to your site.

Maximize your viral marketing power and you will spread your message over the web and generate massive traffic quantities to your site.

More Traffic To Ya!

Generating Website Traffic – The Power Of Inbound Links

Welcome to the next segment in the “Generating Website Traffic” Series.  In the first segment of this series we addressed the power of content in generating a good flow of traffic to your website.  If you haven’t read that segment you can find it here.

In this segment we are going to talk about Inbound Links and how they assist in generating website traffic. If you don’t already know, Inbound links hold a high level of consideration by the search engines when they are ranking your site.  It is a long-term technique that any website owner should be aware of and master.  The more Inbound links you have, the more likely the site will be given value by Google and such.  There are many reputable ways to obtain Inbound links to your site over time.  I’ll list some of these here and then add some links to further reading at the end.

ARTICLE WRITING

One of the most common ways to build Inbound links is by writing and submitting articles to article submission sites.  Article sites allow you to spotlight your expertise and give readers the valuable content they are seeking.  After you have written your article, be sure to include links to your site in order to offer the reader additional resources on that topic or to find out more about you, the Author.  Even if you are not familiar with this process it is very easy to get started and there are several ways you can create content even if you are not a great writer or hate writing altogether (I’ll leave that for another article).  The most common ways that this provides Inbound links to your site is through the links you include within the articles and on your AUTHOR PAGE (make sure you complete your Author Page for each site).  Commonly, one of the great advantages of submitting articles to these sites that is overlooked is the potential for gaining hundreds more links through the sites Article sharing features.  Most Article Submission sites allow users to copy the articles which reside on their site and use them in their own websites or blogs so long as all of the links from the original article remain in tact.  That means every time someone copies your article to their site or blog YOU GAIN AN ADDITIONAL LINK FROM THEIR SITE!  MEGA BONUS!  There are many Article Submission Sites available to you.  A simple search in Google will reveal a number of these.  You can see my favorites in the LIBT TOOLBOX in our menu.  I also highly recommend to anyone who is getting started in Article writing to download Josh Spaulding’s “Article Marketing Domination”.  This was one of the first eBooks I ever purchased and it is chock full of very helpful information on Article Marketing.  You can get more information about Josh’s product HERE.  I have purchased this myself and yes, I do promote this as part of Josh’s affiliate program but I do believe, personally, that the information Josh has provided here is good quality information and it has helped me a number a ways in my Article Marketing campaign.

FORUMS

Another great way to get your site out to the masses and links back to your site is through Forums.  There are Forums out there for just about every topic. If, for example, you are selling Widgets, search for “Widget Forum” in your favorite search engine and you will most likely find a few that suit you.  When you find a Forum be sure it is active and has very recent posts.  This process will work best on active Forums.  Once you find one that you like, sign up and be sure to add a Signature Box.  Most forums allow you to add a link or two within your signature box.  Here is where you get the link back.  Add your signature box and then make sure you are an active participant n the forum.  Ask questions, answer when you can, and form relationships with the audience.  You will gain Inbound links from the forum by using this technique.

FREEBIES

We all love to get something for free so give the people what they want!  You can create a free report or resource list and offer it as a freebie on your site.  Once you have created your freebie, be sure to add it to your website and direct people where they can find it through social or other marketing methods.  Then, ask them to share the information and Voila! your link is out there fluttering about!

GUEST BLOGGING

Locate Blogs that are within your area of expertise. Aask the owners if they would be interested in allowing you to do a guest blog spot.  You would be surprised how many bloggers will be happy to give you a spot assuming your content is good quality.  It gives them a chance to get more activity to their blog and they don’t have to come up with content that day! =)   Just be sure the blogger will allow you to link back to your site.  This can be a very valuable and long standing Inbound link if placed on a very active site.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Get Social!  Use the Social Networks to promote your sites.  The easiest is probably Twitter.  You can be up and running very quickly and it is the easiest as far as promotion goes.  I have two quick Tutorials on Twitter if you are not familiar with it.  You can find them here and here.  Try out Facebook as well.  Be sure to promote and promote often.  The more you promote the more chances you have of people finding your site.

VIDEOS

I think this is a great way to get Inbound links.  Create a video and submit it to the various Video Sharing sites.  You can do a simple “Product How To” on something you are selling or a tutorial on using a great tool or software product online.  If you are not familiar with how to create and produce videos then I wouldn’t start with this one but you can definitely keep it on the short list for the future.

There are a number of other great ways you can gain Inbound links and you can find loads of information just by searching this term.  Some things for newbies to avoid initially would be LINK SHARING or BUYING LINKS.  There are so many scams out there and until you are familiar with these services you should avoid them.  Search Engines have also learned to ignore many link sharing and sites so it could just turn into a waste of time and money for you anyway.

The ideas listed above are a just a few to get yo started with building your inbound links.  Below I have listed a few more resources for you to continue your research.

A Word From Google On Inbound Links

How to Get Inbound Links from Government and University Sites

Our Stance on Paid Links & Link Ads – Good article on Link Buying at SEOMoz.org

Link exchanges: The poor man’s SEO – CNET Article

If you have a great idea for building Inbound links, please post them in the comments and I will put them in a future article.

More Traffic To You!

Generating Website Traffic – Consistent, Quality Content

Getting traffic to your new website is one of the main obstacles beginners face. Although there is an abundance of information available to us on SEO, Google ranking, keywords and more, we still find it hard to sort through all the information to find the right answer.  The point we seem to miss is that the right answer is not just one quick fix but more a series of steps that need to be taken on a regular basis to build a steady stream of visitors to our new site.

In this series, ‘Generating Website Traffic’, we will explore the many ways you can get more visitors to your new website and keep them coming back.  I will not be writing about third party programs, quick traffic generators or fancy website content tools in this series since much of that software is just hype and will do little more than part you and your hard earned money. Instead, I will write on the proven methods that are both free and easy.

In this segment we will discuss what I believe to be the number one traffic generator and audience magnet; Content!  Yes, it has been said over and over again that Content is King.  But, not just any content will do.  Gone are the days of keyword stuffing and hidden text.  Both readers and robots are more knowledgeable these days and expect consistent and quality content when they visit a website.  The depth and variety of the content is what will get the visitors there, make them want to stay awhile and, if you are really lucky, talk about it when they leave.

So let’s talk about some of the ways you can add and improve your website content and attract more visitors.

Articles

This is a great way to relay valuable information to your visitors on the products or services you provide. You can be as brief or as detailed as you want depending on the subject matter and can utilize the text to gently guide your visitor to other areas of your website. I suggest adding at least 3 articles for your website weekly on a variety of subjects related to your site. That’s well over 1000 articles in a year! How’s that for content? If writing 3 articles a week seems overwhelming, you can try writing 1 or 2 to start and fill in with ‘borrowed’ content. You can find an abundance of well-written articles on hundreds of subjects at EZineArticles.com. This is just one of many articles submission/sharing sites that allow you to utilize their content on your website. For example, if you have a website that sells baby monitors, you can go to EZine Articles and search for articles related to baby monitors. I guarantee you will find at least 10 (usually many more) well written articles on the subject. Then, by following their Terms Of Service you simply cut and paste the article into your site and you have some great content in a fraction of the time. I do not suggest utilizing ‘borrowed’ content as the rule. Use it sparingly throughout your sites as an add-on to your own content. The more unique your content is, the more likely your visitor is to stay once they find it.

Video

This is one of the hottest content items you can have on your site. Visitors love video! It provides instant gratification and interaction. All they have to do is push that play button and watch. What could be simpler? You can add your own videos (perhaps tutorials) or find third-party videos for your site in numerous places on the web. A short list for newbies would be YouTube, Vimeo, Google Video and eHow. Each of these video sharing sites offer video content that you can embed within your site. The subjects are endless and you are sure to find something that suits your website.

Tutorials

Another great way to offer your visitors quality content is through Tutorials. No matter who you are, at some point everyone is going to search the web for a How-To item r tutorial of some type. If you offer this content on your site regularly you will give your visitors a reason to stop back often. There are as many ways to offer tutorials. You can write step-by-step text instructions for using your product, a video tutorial on a software installation, or quick overview on how to use an online service. Any tutorial that you feel would both engage and assist your visitor is always an added value item and will keep them on your site longer.

Product Reviews

This is another great way to keep your visitors coming back. Especially if you offer physical products on your site. Product Reviews can help your visitors understand your product line better and assist in the sales process. If your site is more informational, like this one, you can offer reviews on products or services you believe may prove useful to your key audience or on items they frequently ask questions about. I do suggest that if you are going to add reviews to your site that you offer them only on products or services you have actually purchased and used personally. It is much easier to write on a subject when you have first hand knowledge and you don’t want to have to deal with the backlash if you gave a product a rave review without first trying it and then found out later from your audience that they all had a horrible experience with it. You will surely loose all credibility with your visitors in that scenario.

Links

People love to find links to useful information…so feed their need to click. If you are writing an article or preparing a product review, be sure to include links to the products or services you are writing about. It gives the reader easy access to the items and saves them the time of having to search for it themselves. Another great way to add links to your site is with a TOOLBOX or favorite links page. Here you can centralize all of your most valued links and give your visitors a resource area that they can revisit regularly. Be sure to keeps your links fresh and check regularly for broken links on your site. I offer a free link checker tool in the TOOLBOX on this site. It is easy to you and will save your visitors the dreaded dead link frustration.

Newsletters

Newsletters are a great way to get your content out after the visitor has left your site. Offering a weekly or monthly newsletter gives you the opportunity to reach your visitors more often and also to remind them of the products or services you offer. If you don’t offer a newsletter at this time then you may want to give it some thought. It is a great way offer coupons and ‘unadvertised specials’, notify customers of updates, share tips and insider tricks, and just continuously engage your visitors. Your newsletters do not need to be lengthy. You could offer a simple quick tip or a brief synopsis of a review you have on your site with a link back to your site that states, “Read More Here”. If you are going to offer a newsletter to your visitors keep it consistent but not overwhelming. You want to remind them you exist without annoying them with endless items in their inbox.

So here you have just a few ideas for adding consistent and quality website content that will attract and engage your visitors and bring more traffic to your website.

In the next segment in this series, The Power of Inbound Links, we address the value of Inbound Links and the part they play in generating traffic to your new website.  Make sure to also read Viral Marketing Techniques to learn even more ways to bring valuable traffic to your site!

To Your Success!

ps. If you have some great content ideas, please leave a comment and tell us about it.
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