Blogology 101 Submitting blogs and content to directories

30+ FREE TOOLS AND SOFTWARE PROGRAMS TO HELP YOU SUCCEED . 320

Instead of only reading about making money online, why don't

you actually start doing it right away? I've created a simple system

that you can use to get your own money making website set up within

the next 24 hours. It's not just a website though... It's actually a

complete turn-key home based business system that gives you

everything you need to start pulling in profits on the Internet.

Click here to learn more about it and sign up today!

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Introduction

Hello, my name is hipriestess. A few years ago, I was a

restaurant owner. Actually, you could say the restaurant owned me. I

worked long hours being what is popularly called the chief cook and

bottle washer - that just means I did everything from paying the bills

to washing the dishes. At the end of the day, I earned barely enough

money to get by and I never had the opportunity to take a vacation.

The fact is, my financial life was pretty difficult at that time.

However, I was optimistic and always searching for ways to achieve

true financial freedom. One day, I picked up a book called "Multiple

Streams of Income" by best selling author, Robert Allen... and I didn't

put it down until I was finished reading it cover to cover.

That book changed my life.

It taught me, in very simple terms, that having money is a good

thing and that not having money is a bad thing. It illustrated the point

that it is essential to develop multiple streams of income. One job is

not enough, one investment is not enough, one business is not

enough. If you are only relying on one stream of income, you are

setting yourself up to be broke one day and the fact is that 85% of the

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world's population grows old and dies financially broke. That's because

most people do not have multiple streams of income.

Knowing that one stream of income is not enough, I got busy

finding ways to make more money through avenues other than my

"day job". In the "Multiple Streams of Income" book, Robert Allen

discusses different "Money Mountains" including the "Real Estate

Money Mountain", the "Investment Money Mountain" and the

"Marketing Money Mountain". The one that appealed to me most was

marketing - specifically Internet marketing.

In the book, Robert went on to explain that ordinary people were

getting on the Internet and starting small businesses that made big

money from the comfort of their own homes using nothing more than

a personal computer and an Internet connection. I was intrigued by

this idea. Just the thought of being able to make a living using nothing

more than a laptop computer and the Internet sent chills down my

spine. I got started immediately.

After work and after my family went to sleep at night, I'd brew a

big pot of coffee and get online for a few hours (usually between

midnight and 3 AM) trying to learn how to make money online. I knew

other people were doing it. I just had to figure out how to do it myself.

I'll be honest... It wasn't easy.

- 10 -

Everywhere I turned, somebody was promising to make me rich if

I joined their business opportunity or membership site or bought their

latest ebook. Before long, I had racked up thousands of dollars in

credit card debt and cluttered my computer with various ebooks,

membership site passwords, affiliate program welcome letters and

Internet marketing guru newsletters. My head was spinning with ideas

and information, but the only people making any money that I saw

were the people whose stuff I was buying - or so it seemed.

However, with time things began to make more sense. I started

making a little bit of money using some of the online marketing

strategies I was experimenting with and gradually that little bit of

money I was making grew into a full-time income.

My dream of making a living from home has come true.

The purpose of this book, "Dotcomology - The Science of Making

Money Online", is to share the information that has helped me create a

successful online business so that other people who are hopeful of

making money online will have a fighting chance for success.

See, you have to be careful when you get online with hopes of

making money because there are literally thousands of scams and

scam artists waiting behind the veil with sophisticated and highly

tuned strategies for ripping you off. One of the reasons I give this

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huge 300+ page content-rich ebook away for free, is because I want

to help as many people as possible avoid the scams and learn the

truth about what it actually takes to make money online. With the

facts in hand, you can decide for yourself whether or not you've got

what it takes to succeed in the Internet marketing industry.

TIP: If you want to get started quickly, I can help you get your

first website set up within 24 hours, so that you can start applying

what you learn in this book to the real world. I believe that my service

is the fastest and easiest way to start making money on the Internet.

Click here to learn more about it.

- 12 -

Empty your cup!

There's an old Zen story that goes like this: A young man had

read all the books he could find about Zen. He heard about a great

Zen master and requested and appointment with him to ask for

teachings. When they were seated, the young man proceeded to tell

the master everything he had understood from his reading, saying that

Zen is about this and Zen is about that, on and on...

After some time, the master suggested that they have tea. He

performed the traditional tea ceremony while the student sat at

attention, bowing when served, saying nothing. The master began to

pour tea into the student's cup. He poured until it was full, and kept

pouring. The tea ran over the edge of the cup and onto the table. The

master kept pouring as the tea ran off the table and onto the floor.

Finally, the student couldn't contain himself any longer. He shouted,

"Stop! Stop pouring! The cup is full - no more will go in!"

The master stopped pouring and said, "Just like this cup, your

mind is full of your own opinions and preconceptions. How can you

learn anything unless you first empty your cup?"

And so it is with you now - if you're going to benefit from this

book and all of the knowledge I reveal within the pages ahead, you

must first empty your mind so that you can actually learn something.

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Don't listen to the "so-called" experts...

In this book, I'm not going to give you some airy-fairy theory

about what should work if everything clicks the way I think it should.

That's the kind of rubbish you can read in any one of a thousand

marketing books sitting on the shelves of Barnes and Noble. The fact

is, most of those authors have never sold anything online except

copies of their book on Amazon.

Here's my first piece of advice: don't listen to advice from

someone who hasn't been there and done it themselves!

This is absolutely crucial. If you look around the web or in your

local bookstore you're going to find a ton of hype about how you can

become a millionaire with nothing more than a keyboard and a mouse.

There are people out there who will say you can get rich with no effort,

no work and no investment. There are even some who will try to sell

you pyramid schemes, get-rich-quick plans and every other kind of

scam you can imagine. And people actually buy them. At the first sign

of a chance to pick up fast cash, people whip out their wallets and give

away their life savings. You're smarter than that, right?

But it's not just the straightforward frauds you have to watch out

for. The Internet changes almost every day. Unless someone is

actually earning their living online day in and day out, by the time

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they've finished explaining how to make money on the Internet,

chances are, their advice is out of date.

Like I said, it wasn't easy when I was first getting started. But like

any successful businessman, I ditched what didn't work and did more

of what did. If I saw something that I thought would bring in extra

cash, I gave it a try.

The fact that it's so easy to create an online business was what

really did it for me. If I wanted to take advantage of an opportunity, it

cost me next to nothing to try and I lost little if it failed.

It wasn't long before I knew exactly how to find the right products

and bring them to the right customers.

That's what I'm going to show you in this book. I'm not going to

give you any strange theories or fancy ideas. I'm just going to tell you

exactly what I did - and what I'm still doing! - so that you can do

the exact same thing yourself if you want to.

Of course, I can't guarantee that you'll have the exact same

results as me. Heck, I bet if I were starting from scratch today I'd

have different results too. I might even have better results. All I can

do is reveal the information and tools that work for me. Once you have

this, I'm confident that you can make this business work for you too.

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Do you have what it takes to be an e-entrepreneur?

Before you even turn on your computer, the first question you

have to ask yourself is whether you're cut out for this kind of work.

The fact is, building a home-based business isn't for everyone.

Some people like the commute. They really do enjoy having a boss

who tells them what to do, and they like the routine of working nineto-

five for an ordinary salary that can barely pay the mortgage.

Personally, I think they're nuts.

More reasonably, there are people who are concerned about the

risk of starting up their own business. They're not sure it's worth the

investment of time and money, and they're scared of the responsibility

that comes with running their own company. They wonder if there is

another way to escape the rat race.

I'm sure there is. You could win the lottery or wait for your Aunt

Sue to keel over and leave you her condo. Or maybe you could sit

down with a pen and paper and draw the blueprint for The Next Big

Thing. Anything can happen...

For me, what happened was creating a successful, self-running

Internet marketing system. It didn't happen without effort. It didn't

happen without at least some initial investment of both time and

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money. Of course, it doesn't happen now without me making sure that

the taxes are filed and the paperwork is done. But it happened. I'm my

own boss. I work from home according to my own schedule and I get

to pocket all the cash my business makes. If you're prepared to give

an e-business the time, the work and the money it needs to get

started and get growing, it can happen for you too.

The Internet - Your Business Tool

In effect, my system for making money online is built on three

foundations: the Internet, marketing and the product.

In this book, we are going to look closely at each one of those. In

particular, we'll spend a lot of time talking about marketing because

that is really how you make money online.

Let's begin by taking a quick glance at why the Internet is the

greatest business opportunity since the railroad.

The Internet actually started in 1969 as the ARPANET, a Defense

Department system designed to let survivors share files after a nuclear

attack. From a handful of top secret computers, it's grown to fill more

than 10 million hosts and millions of domain names.

And it's still growing. According to a recent survey, the volume of

Internet traffic is expected to double annually over the next five years.

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Consumers are expected to account for 60 percent of all Internet

traffic over that period with the rest of the market made up of

business users.

What does that mean for you?

It means customers - millions of them.

No other business tool can put the products you sell to so many

people so easily. Nothing even comes close.

We're talking about a potential market of hundreds of millions of

people around the world who can buy your products 24 hours a day,

365 days a year. If you opened a store in your city, how many people

would walk past your window each month? If you live in Manhattan,

maybe a few thousand. If you live in Los Olivos, California, maybe a

few hundred. On the Internet, there's virtually no limit to the number

of people you can bring through your store front wherever you live.

That's the power of the Internet. That's why my online business is

bringing in thousands of dollars every day. I attract a lot of customers

for my service and I sell a lot of goods.

The Right Product Sells Itself

In fact, for some of my websites, my customers are my goods.

When you join an affiliate program, you buy traffic from other sites

- 18 -

and pass them onto your partners for a profit. In this book you'll learn

all about affiliate programs. I'll show you how to build them, how to

select your partners and how to turn your traffic into cash.

But traffic is just one kind of product on the web. Information

products are some of the greatest money-makers currently churning

up dollars on the Net. And anyone can create an information product.

Imagine you know how to build a bookcase from scratch. That

already makes you a lot more knowledgeable than me. The only thing

I know about wood is that it looks great in my fireplace! Maybe one

person in a thousand will want to know how to build the kind of

bookcase you know how to build. If you're not a well-known carpenter,

no publishing company is going to touch you. It's just not worth the

effort. On the Internet, one person in a thousand gives you a potential

market of approximately 340,000 customers (and that number is

growing all the time). If you write a book and sell it online for just $10

per copy you could make as much as $3,400,000. All you have to do is

tell people what you know and tell them it's out there. And that costs

next to nothing. Information sells like crazy online. In fact, I sell a $47

ebook all day long. The profits from that single ebook could provide a

comfortable living for me and my family all by itself. But who wants to

stop at one profit stream when you can create multiple streams of

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automated income on the Internet? Not me. Click here to discover

the system I use to earn multiple streams of income on the Internet.

The Eternal, Changing Business Plan

Of course, it's communication that's the key. The more people you

can bring to your websites the more money you're going to make.

You can have the greatest products in the world sold on the most

beautifully designed website online, but if no-one knows where it is,

you're just going to be wasting the twenty bucks or so that you're

spending each month for your website hosting service.

There are a dozen different ways to bring people to your website.

This book will discuss the ones that are most effective. I'm sure there

are other ways too. I'm sure you'll find people who will tell you that

this site is great or that method gave them results. Maybe they're

right, and you're welcome to try them. What I can tell you is that I've

tried a lot of different marketing techniques and this book will reveal

all the ones that work best for me and should work for you too.

That doesn't necessarily mean that they will work for you. If

there's one piece of advice regarding online marketing that you learn

from this book, it's that marketing has to be flexible. Like I said, I tried

dozens of different methods. If I hadn't kept a constant watch on how

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those methods were working, if I hadn't dropped those that weren't

worth the effort and repeated my success with those that brought in

cash, I'd still be making sandwiches and washing dishes for a living.

I'll tell you about the methods that I found consistently effective.

If they don't work for your product, give it a little time then switch the

methods around. Remember, flexibility is the key.

In the first chapter of this book, I'm going to explain exactly what

you have to do to build a website from selecting a host to creating the

design. Once you've got your site up, you have to bring traffic, and

that's what we'll discuss next. I'll reveal the secrets of successful

search engine optimization, how to buy advertising that pays, and how

to make the most of the millions of affiliate programs that will pay real

dollars for your website visitors you've never met and never will.

I'll also examine the various kinds of products you can create and

sell online, and finally, I'll show you how to put everything together to

create a truly integrated business system that brings in real cash, hour

after hour, day after day!

Making a fortune online is easy if you know what you're doing.

Read this book and apply the information within. I know it can work

for you because it works for me. Whether you choose to succeed or

not using the information revealed in this book, is entirely up to you.

- 21 -

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1. Getting Started

The first step towards creating an online

business is building a website. Now, that isn't as

complicated as it sounds. When I built my first

website, I thought Java was a type of coffee and

HTML the name of a robot in Star Wars. That's why I didn't do it. I

paid someone else to do it for me. It cost me just a few hundred

bucks, but I earned it back soon enough. This chapter discusses how

to begin the process of creating your first website, and where you can

find someone to build your site if you don't want to do it yourself.

1.1 Making Your Website Attractive, Interesting, Engaging

and Interactive

To succeed at your online business (whether you are selling your

own product/service or are selling for other merchants as an affiliate),

you need a website created just for that - a simple, focused site. Your

website should be easy to build, maintenance-free, low cost, credible,

and a powerful traffic-builder and customer-converter.

Having the right tool and the right product alone won't ensure the

success of your website. There are many factors to be considered

while designing a site. Unfortunately, most of these are often ignored

by Internet business owners.

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'' Build It for Speed - It's a fact of modern life - people are in

a hurry. This means that you have between 10 and 30

seconds to capture your potential customer's attention. To

minimize your load time, keep graphics small. Compress

them where possible. Use flashy technology (JavaScript,

Flash, Streaming Audio/Video, animation) sparingly and

only if it is important to your presentation.

'' Target your Market - Know who your market is and make

certain that your site caters to their needs. It is critical that

your site reflect the values of your potential customers. Is

your market mostly business professionals? If so, the site

must be clean and professional. Is your product aimed

mostly a teenagers and young adults? Then your site could

be more informal and relaxed. The key here is to know your

market and build the site to their preferences.

'' Focus the Site - Make certain your website is focused on a

primary goal: selling your product or service. A site offering

many unrelated products is not necessarily unfocused, but

this is often the case. If your business does offer many

products, dedicate a unique page for each instead of trying

to sell them all from one page.

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'' Credibility Is Crucial - The most professionally designed

website won't sell if your customers don't believe in you. A

clear privacy statement is one way to build your credibility.

Provide a prominent link to your privacy statement from

every page on the site as well as from any location that you

are asking your visitors for personal information. Provide

legitimate contact information online.

'' Navigation should be simple - Make site navigation easy and

intuitive. Simple and smooth navigation adds to the

convenience of the visitors. Add powerful search and catalog

features. Visitors usually don't have the patience to navigate

through the whole website to find what they are looking for.

'' Consistency is the key - Make sure the site is consistent in

look, feel and design. Nothing is more jarring and disturbing

to a customer than feeling as if they have just gone to

another site. Keep colors and themes constant throughout

your website.

'' Make your website interactive and personalized - Add

feedback forms as well as email forms that allow your

prospective customers to ask you any questions they might

have pertaining to a product. Personalization of your

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website is another key element that can build your visitor's

trust and increase your sales. Personalization technology

provides you the analytic tools to facilitate cross-selling and

up-selling when the customer is buying online. It would give

you an idea of what products to cross-sell and up-sell. For

example, when a person buys a CD player, a disc cleaner

can also be offered.

'' Content is King - Good content sells a product. Ask yourself

the following questions. Does your copy convey the

message you wish to get across to your visitors? Is it

compelling? Does it lead your visitor through the sales

process? Have others review, critique and edit your copy to

insure it is delivering the intended message. Always double

check your spelling and grammar.

1.2 Navigation

The aim of a website's navigation is simply to allow users to get to

the content they require. For sites that have a large number of

sections and web pages (and information sites can be one of these)

the navigation plan has to be properly researched and designed. You

have to consider different types of visitors and simulate the most

common steps they would take to find what they want on your site,

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and the navigation plan has to optimize this movement. For example,

the steps required from searching a catalog of items, selecting from

the catalog, adding them to a shopping cart, proceeding to check out,

to entering the payment particulars is a specific sequence that should

be facilitated by the navigation system. If the sequence is haphazard,

it could lead to frustration or the user may miss an important step and

you would have an aborted sale.

To find their way about, users need to know two things:

- Where they are now

- How to go elsewhere

Navigation does not exist in isolation; good site organization is a

prerequisite for a coherent navigation system.

Objectives of a Navigation System

Navigation can be broken into two primary types: Location

Indicators and Navigation Controls.

Location Indicators

Location indicators let users know where they are in the site at

the moment. You need to keep in mind that users coming from outside

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your site can enter at any page, not necessarily on a main page. They

need to be able to orientate themselves quickly.

Equally, it is important that users navigating around your site

have a clear idea of where they are both in absolute terms and in

relation to other content.

Location information should appear on every page of the site, in

the same place and in the same style. Location indicators should tell

the user precisely where they are and this should be clear even to a

user who has entered the site at an internal page. The location

indicator should be identifiable for what it is and make sense in the

context of other navigation.

In simple sites a page banner - text or graphic - naming the page

will be sufficient. For this to work the page name should also appear in

the main navigation so that it is relevant within the overall structure of

the site.

Color can be used. For example a different color background,

contrast color or sidebar in each part of the site. To be really effective

the color change should be reflected in the navigation.

Using "breadcrumbs" on every page is a good idea. Breadcrumbs

show you a series of hierarchical links that you have used to go from

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page to page within a section. Using breadcrumbs is like leaving a trail

of the path you have followed. The breadcrumbs appear at the top of

the content section, just below the main navigation template. Each

element in the breadcrumb is a link to that section or subsection. This

helps in avoiding a series of back buttons allowing the user to directly

go back to the main section page or another sub section. More

importantly, it always shows the context of the page that is being

viewed and how it belongs to a section or sub-section.

Navigation Controls

Navigation controls are the main navigation links; they allow

users to move around the site. Whether they comprise images or text

they should be predictably located in the same place, and with the

same appearance, on each page.

These have several purposes

'' To allow users to move about within the site

'' To tell users what information is available at the link

'' To work with location indicators to orientate users

A good navigation control:

'' Is clear: it looks like navigation

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'' Leads to obvious content - users have a good idea what

they will find if they click

'' Is consistent with other navigation controls

'' Is predictable in its style and location on the page

There is no mystery to usability. It simply involves creating a site,

which is accessible to the majority of people, is easy to use and get

around and delivers on its promises. You can have a site that meets

the most important standards of usability by planning it well and

always keeping the end user in mind. Remember that websites should

not be designed for their owners - they should be designed for their

users.

Problems with usability could be said to stem from just two

sources: the site itself and the user. In fact, the site is always at fault

if a visitor (however experienced or inexperienced) has problems

navigating, getting information or understanding the site.

While websites have become far more complex, web users have

become less experienced because more and more new people go

online every day. It is a mistake to think that the majority of users will

be web or even computer savvy and will understand subtle clues about

content. Many won't, so make your site as easy to use as possible.

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1.3 Defining a Usable Site

A usable site will:

'' Help users achieve a goal, usually to find something, such

as information, or obtain something, such as a book.

'' Make it easy for them to achieve that goal

'' Make it possible to achieve the goal quickly

'' Make achieving that goal a pleasant experience

A site will be generally usable if:

'' The content is good and relevant

'' The content is easy to find

'' The content can be found quickly

'' The page is pleasant to look at and cleanly designed

1.3.1 Good Content is Critical

A site with good content, regardless of its subject, is one that

provides products or information that is useful or beneficial to users. A

good usable site will make it clear what information or content is

available and at what price AND what is not available. A good usable

site should define clearly all subscription packages offered.

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1.3.2 Ease of Access to Information

Good navigation, precise location indicators, secondary

navigation, clear linked text and a well-organized structure all

contribute to making information easy to find for a wide range of

different users.

Bearing in mind that many users are inexperienced, it may be

necessary to include explanations of things you consider selfexplanatory.

For example, an inexperienced user may need an

explanation of how to use a drop down menu. Remember, make it as

easy as possible for people to use your website.

1.3.3 Quick Access to Information

This is the aim of the majority of web users. It can be broken into

two important aspects:

Speed of Page Loading

This requires, in particular, attention to images to ensure they are

properly optimized and do not excessively delay load time. It may also

mean breaking up long articles and ensuring that important content is

at the top of the page where it will load first.

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Speed of Access to Content

This is where the 3-click rule comes in - no important content

should be more than 3 clicks from the home page. Some standards

even say that it should be no more than two clicks.

One helpful way to speed access to content is to consider each

type of user, select the content that they are most likely to be

interested in and create links from the home page to one piece of

content for each group. This will get them quickly to the appropriate

part of the site.

1.3.4 Cleanly Designed Pages

Cleanly designed pages are pleasant to look at and easy to read.

It is almost impossible to make a site with an image shown as a tiled

background usable - the whole thing is too distracting and confusing.

It takes no great design skills to create clean pages; it just requires

thought and adherence to the principle that when it comes to design,

less usually is more.

1.3.5 Download Status

Most paid membership websites are limited to online access and

information download rather than selling products. There should be

clear download instructions provided. Your website should also state

- 33 -

the size of the file in kilobytes and the estimated time of download for

a user having a 56K modem, DSL, Cable and so on.

1.3.6 Usability Problems

While for large commercial sites investment in full-scale usability

studies may be essential, few small sites can afford such luxuries.

However, identifying problems with usability for your site need be

no more complicated than asking a few (honest) friends to act as

guinea pigs on your site and, if possible, watching them silently as

they do this. Watching users try to find information at your site can be

both instructive and quite surprising.

Remember that if at any stage you feel the urge to intervene and

explain, then you have identified a usability problem.

List of the Most Common Usability Problems

'' The site does not state its purpose clearly

'' Java applets, huge images, banner ads or flashy elements

slow down loading; 10 seconds is about as long as the

average user will wait for a page.

- 34 -

'' The site requires specific software to be used. Have you

ever actually changed browsers or downloaded a piece of

software just to see a site?

'' Poor navigation, too little navigation, too much navigation

and, not uncommonly, no navigation at all

'' Bad design leading to poor readability

'' Discomfort due to ugly design or inconsistent design. Almost

always because a designer overestimated their skills.

'' Irrelevance of content - for example the business site that

includes biographies and photos of each of the board

members. Happy egos on the board; bored website visitors!

'' Complexity or excessive originality of design, which requires

users to learn how it works in order to use it.

'' Inaccessibility because the site cannot be used by browsers

for people with disabilities.

1.4 Building Interactivity and Personalization

Make your website interactive. Add feedback forms as well as

email forms that allow your prospective customers to ask you any

questions they might have pertaining to a product. Personalization of

- 35 -

your website is another key element that can build a visitor's trust and

increase your sales. Personalization technology provides you the

analytic tools to facilitate cross-selling and up-selling when the

customer is buying online.

Personalization tries to restore to the online business the magic of

personalized attention which is one of the chief reasons why many

people still prefer in-store purchase. You can use personalization to

match your customer with the right products through either rulesbased

or customer analytics-based processing. Thus as your software

stores customer information and preferences, it can help categorize

them into groups. At the same time, observations over time can

suggest products to cross-sell and up-sell. Thus when a person buys a

subscription to a fitness site, exercise equipment is also offered.

Amazon pioneered personalization on the net - when you a buy a

book, it shows you other books in the similar genre saying "people

who bought this book also bought these", inducing you to buy more.

A consumer survey from the Personalization Consortium found

that 56 percent of respondents say they are more likely to purchase

from a site that allows personalization, and 63 percent are more likely

to register at a site that allows it.

- 36 -

1.5 Graphics

Your site has to be aesthetically attractive with visually appealing

organization and enticing images. Fashions change fast on the

Internet, so when you come to choose a designer, make sure you take

a good look at their portfolio. You want the user to just glance at your

homepage and understand immediately who you are and what you can

do for them.

1.6 Web Copy

Your website content should convince visitors that your service is

either unique or superior to that of your competitors in terms of

quality, and is competitively priced. It should show your potential

clients that you can provide the solution they are seeking. Your

product or service will solve their problems, answer a dream, enrich

their lives, and/or improve their businesses. You are the dependable

expert that they want and need!

Your website copy plays a major role in establishing and growing

your customer base. Website copy creates the "voice" of a company,

just as the look and feel of a site put a "face" on the company and on

otherwise intangible products and services. On an ecommerce site, the

copy plays a key role in closing sales as well as in up-selling and crossselling

products and services. Good website copy delights first-time

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visitors, encourages return visits and propels both customer

acquisition and retention.

People read a web page differently than they do a brochure or a

newspaper. They scan, scroll, click, hit the back button, and hit the

forward button. "Reading" is about moving around and being in

control. You have one chance to make a first impression - to quickly

convey the benefit of staying on your website. I can't overstate the

importance of first impressions, which in web-time are measured in

milliseconds. The layout, functionality, message and overall look and

feel of your web page determine who stays - and who clicks away.

Your story should be clear and to the point. The goal of any web

page should be to get the visitor to DO something: to move on to the

next step in a purchase sequence or to click for more information

about a product or service. Without readable, compelling copy and

clearly organized hypertext links, visitors are much less likely to

complete a transaction - and return to your site again.

Writing for your web page should always start from your visitor's

perspective. What is your website visitor looking for? Why is she here?

How can you make her visit as quick and efficient and positive as

possible? You should take the time to clarify the goal of each page

before starting to write. If the page is part of a transaction sequence,

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identify what may be hindering the buying process. Be sure

instructions are clear and easy to read.

If you are selling a service on your website, your Unique Selling

Proposition (USP) is your service's most powerful benefit, in

combination with a strong, unique feature of your business. It answers

that most difficult question:

Why should someone do business with you?

Tell your customers what service you are selling and explain what

your service provides. What is the key benefit(s) to your customers?

What pain does it cure, what solution does it provide? Compare your

service with that of your competitors and highlight what makes you

stand out from the competition? Keep working on this until you can

clearly separate yourself from the field. As stated earlier there must be

a convincing reason for doing business with you, instead of your

competitor.

Summarize the above into one tight, powerful, motivating phrase

that will persuade your customer to do business with you and to trade

their money for the benefits delivered by your service.

As you start to work through the above four steps, you may find

this to be a lot harder than it looks. Don't blow it off and give up! You

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must have a USP. If it was easy, everyone would have a great USP!

Come up with a tight, sharp USP that sells your service to your

customer.

Write tight, get right to the point, be keenly aware of the

audience for the page, and don't use a three-syllable word when a one

or two-syllable word will do. Use call-to-action language and be

interesting. The page should be so clearly organized that, in seconds,

visitors can understand and get convinced to buy your product and be

able to anticipate where a hypertext link - or a "Continue" button -

will take them. Studies show that "ease of use" is the winning factor

on an ecommerce site.

If you're going to promote your service and expand your customer

base using your website, potential clients have to be able to trust you.

Their confidence in you and your products has to be boosted.

Endorsements on your website from a valued friend or colleague, or a

referral from a strategic partner are the types of "leads" that boost

your credibility. You and your service must be perceived as being

trust-worthy before your visitor will be confident enough to contact

you or even buy your product.

Show prospects that you have their best interests at heart and

that you can adapt or customize your service to meet their individual

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needs. Foster an ongoing relationship that steadily increases their trust

levels and cements a view that you are an "authority" in your field.

Another important aspect of convincing prospective customers is

to keep abreast of recent developments in your field. Check on what

your competitors are writing about, and watch for new trends. This will

keep your website current, razor-sharp and unique. By keeping your

eyes open, you will be able to grab an angle or niche that hasn't been

well covered yet by your competitors. Portray this angle or niche on

your website.

Finally, be wary of broadening the theme of your site too much.

Try not to dilute your product or service's targeted niche simply to

expand your base of merchant partners. Remember; focus on your

selling your service. That's where the "meat and potatoes" of your

business will come from.

1.7 Choosing a Domain Name

In the physical world, you can distinguish a business because of

its structure, window displays, or signs. You can tell that a bank is a

bank, or a clothing store is indeed a clothing store.

In the Internet, however, it is an entirely different story

altogether. Your domain name is the only clue to your online business.

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You do not have visual clues: no location, no look, and no store

design. Instead, users have to type in a word or a set of words to

reach your site. Your prospective visitor has no way of knowing what

your site is all about until she finds it and reads its contents. Who can

ever tell that Amazon.com sells books? Or that Excite is a search

engine?

Your domain name can spell your success on the Internet. A good

domain name is the best asset you can ever have. It can make your

business stand out in the crowd, or just float aimlessly in space.

The need to provide immediate clues to an online business led to

the prevalence of generic domain names. Generic names instantly

provide the user with an idea of what a business is all about, what to

expect and look for in a site. For instance, Etoys.com is a toy store.

The temptation of the generic name has been so powerful; that

some companies even paid ridiculously high prices to get the name

they want. The domains Loans.com and Wines.com were both bought

for $3 million each. Telephone.com was acquired for $1.75 million,

while Bingo.com sold for $1.1 million.

However, generic names do not necessarily create the "buzz" that

you'd like surrounding your website. Branding has always been about

proper names: McDonald's did not name their store Hamburger. Hertz

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is not called Car Rental. FedEx is not Mail Carrier. Kodak is not

Photographs. Google is not Search Engine. Microsoft is not Computer

Software.

For better branding results, your domain name should stand out

and be easy to remember. Consider the following tips when creating a

domain name:

'' The domain name should be short

'' The domain name should be simple

'' It should be suggestive of your business category

'' It should be unique

'' It should be easy to interpret and pronounce

'' It should be personalized

'' It should not be difficult to spell

'' It should not be difficult to remember

Domain names can be registered through many different

companies (known as "registrars") - a listing of these companies is

available at ICANN.org. You can register for domain names from 1 to

10 years in advance and prices can vary anywhere from $8 to $30 per

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year for each registered domain. Most website hosting companies, as

explained later, will handle the registration process for you, but make

sure that you are properly listed as the owner of the domain when it is

registered. If you have registered a domain name for a specific period,

make sure you renew it in time. You'd be surprised at the number of

cases, where website owners have lost their domain name to a

competitor by not renewing it in time.

1.7.1 Using Expired Domains to Skyrocket Your Traffic

Domain names provide a great opportunity to make easy money.

I'm not talking about Internet real estate, where you buy up good

names and sell them on for a profit. If you didn't get positioned in that

market early on, you can forget about it. The bottom's fallen out of the

market and the best domains are long gone.

I'm talking about expiring domains.

Thousands of webmasters invest time, effort and money to

promote their site and build up traffic. Many of them then lose interest

and move on, leaving their site active. That means that although they

still own the domain, they're not actively promoting it. But they don't

need to. All the automatic marketing systems they've put in place are

still bringing in traffic. The site runs itself.

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Now, at some point the ownership of those domains is going to

expire. If you snap up those domains once they come back onto the

market, you've got a pre-built stream of customers. You can either

rebuild the site, or redirect the traffic to your domain.

It's that easy. In fact, websites like DeletedDomains.com

actually do all the legwork and let you reap all the rewards.

Do be careful when using other sites though. There are some

swindlers out there that will sell you subscriptions, provide you with

outdated lists, take your money and keep the good domains for

themselves. It happens, and there's little point in taking a risk with

other companies when DeletedDomains.com does such a great job.

1.8 The Host

Let's start where the Internet starts: with a host. A host is a

server that provides a home for your website on the World Wide Web.

Just as your computer contains all your files, so a host contains all the

files needed to run your website. Why can't you just keep all those

files on your own computer? Because that would mean visitors would

have to connect directly to your computer to see your website and

that's not a good idea. It wouldn't be secure and it would make your

machine run like a tired snail. With a host, you can simply upload

everything you need to the server and your users can then connect

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there to see your site. It lets the site run faster and allows it to have

all the security and extras it needs.

Selecting a host is the first important step towards building your

Internet business.

Hosting services and companies vary from totally free, shared

servers to large-scale dedicated machines. You'll have to decide which

is right for you and your business.

Your choice of server will depend on how much money you have

available at the beginning and how much you plan to grow in the

future. In my opinion, for commercial sites, free hosting is a waste of

time. Your users are going to get blasted with annoying pop-ups every

time they surf to your page, it's going to be impossible to get a decent

position in a search engine, and you don't even get a real business

URL. No one's going to remember your web address if they have to

type: FreeWebsiteHosting.com/my_site. However, it is possible to

choose a cheaper host at the beginning and move up as your business

begins to bring in money.

NOTE: One of the most important factors in choosing a website

host is the customer service you receive once you've signed up.

There are many technical issues that can come up once you have your

own website, and if you don't have a truly dedicated hosting company

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to support you and help you resolve these issues when necessary, you

could, quite simply, lose your business. Trust me, I've seen many

thriving online businesses fall apart because they chose the wrong

hosting company. When hosting is cheap, there is a reason for it.

With website hosting, you get exactly what you pay for and you should

never compromise when it comes to who to host your website with.

Click here to learn about my service and the website hosting

company I highly recommend to everyone who does business online.

1.9 Testing and Performance

You have designed a very usable website, you have hosted it

using a very reliable web hosting company, and you have integrated a

safe and trusted payment processing system with your website.

However, all these can prove to be useless until you know your site is

actually working and accessible. If you want to create an accessible

website, you will need to test, test and test again.

A recent Forrester Research report reported that failure to ensure

website quality will cost the average small or mid-size company

thousands of dollars in wasted expenditures on website redesigns,

forfeited revenue, and lost customers. Testing a website is a long and

tedious task, but it's perhaps the most important task of all. There are

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numerous stages to testing, all of which are very important. Ranging

from browser testing to content testing, none should be excluded.

Visual Acceptance Testing

Visual Acceptance Testing is the first port-of-call for all

webmasters. This type of testing generally ensures that the site looks

as it is intended to. This includes checking the graphic integration, and

simply confirming that the site looks good. In this stage you should

assess every page carefully to ensure that each looks the same. The

site should be tested under different screen resolutions and color

depths.

Functionality Testing

Functionality testing is perhaps the most vital area of testing, and

one which should never be missed. Functionality testing involves an

assessment of every aspect of the site where scripting or code is

involved, from searching for dead links, to testing forms and scripts.

You should also test your payment processing system completely

and thoroughly. After all, you wouldn't want a potential customer to

get stuck at the last stage and eventually leave the site just because

there is something wrong with payment processing.

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Content Proofing

This stage of testing removes any errors in your content, and

ensures that your site has a professional appearance. In this phase,

you should reread each page on your site, and check for spelling and

grammatical errors.

System and Browser Compatibility Testing

This test phase is completed in order to ensure that your website

renders correctly on a user's screen. To begin with, you should test

several pages from your site on different browsers such as Internet

Explorer 4, 5, 6, Netscape 4 and 6, and Opera. This can be extremely

important - if your site does not work properly with the Netscape

browser, Netscape users will end up annoyed, and they'll go

elsewhere.

1.9.1 Monitoring and Tracking

Understanding what your visitors do on your site is crucial

information, not to mention interesting. If a large majority of your

visitors who proceed to purchase a product leave the site when they

get to a specific page in the order process, you need to know about it.

It could be that the page in question is confusing or hard to use. Fixing

it could increase your sales exponentially. In fact, it is not uncommon

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for small website changes in headlines and order processes to result in

a 200%-300% increase in sales. This is just an example; there are

many reasons why you want a detailed analysis of your site visitors.

Most website hosting services offer a stats package that you can

study. If you're not sure where this is, call up your hosting service and

ask them. Statistics are a vital part of tracking your marketing

progress. If you don't have access to website statistics get a package

that can help you in this area. Do not get a counter that just shows

how many visitors you've had. You'll be missing out on vital

information that can help strengthen weaknesses in your site.

A good website hosting service would offer traffic logs that

provide an invaluable insight into the traffic being referred to a web

site from various sources such as search engines, directories and other

links.

Unfortunately, traffic tracking provided by web hosting services is

often in the form of raw traffic log files or other hard-to-comprehend,

cryptic formats. These log files are basically text files that describe

actions on the site. It is literally impossible to use the raw log files to

understand what your visitors are doing. If you do not have the

patience to go through these huge traffic logs, opting for a trafficlogging

package would be a good idea.

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Basically two options are available to you and these are: using a

log analysis package or subscribing to a remotely hosted trafficlogging

service. A remotely hosted traffic logging service may be easy

to use and is generally the cheaper option of the two. In fact, you can

get a powerful free tracking tool at: StatCounter.com. Other reliable

tracking programs include WebTrends.com and HitsLink.com.

These services do not use your log files. Typically a small section

of code is placed on any page you want to track. When the page is

viewed, information is stored on the remote server and available in

real time to view in charts and tables form.

A good traffic logging service provides detailed statistics

pertaining to the following:

'' How many people visit your site?

'' Where are they from?

'' How are visitors finding your site?

'' What traffic is coming from search engines, links from other

sites, and other sources?

'' What keyword search phrases are they using to find your

site?

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'' What pages are frequented the most - what information are

visitors most interested in?

'' How do visitors navigate within your web site?

Knowing the answers to these and other fundamental questions is

essential for making informed decisions that maximize the return on

investment (ROI) of your website investment.

The most important aspect of tracking visitors to your website is

analyzing all the statistics you get from your tracking software. The

three main statistics that will show your overall progress are hits,

visitors and page views. Hits are tracked when any picture or page

loads from your server on to a visitor's browser. Hits, however, can be

very misleading. It is quite an irrelevant statistic for your website.

The statistic that is probably the most important for a website is

Page Views/Visitors. This gives you a good indication of two things.

First, how many people are coming to your site, and secondly how

long are they staying on your site. If you have 250 visitors and 300

page views you can figure that most visitors view one page on your

site and then leave. Generally, if you're not getting 2 page views per

visitor then you should consider upgrading your site's content so your

visitors will stay around longer.

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If you see the number of visitors you have increasing as well as

the number of page views per visitor increasing then keep up the good

work! Always look for this stat as an overall barometer of how your

site design is going and if your marketing campaigns are taking hold.

Also, a good stat to look for is unique visitors. Once a person

visits your site they will not be added to the unique visitors category if

they visit again. This is a good way to track new visitors to your

website.

Page views are a good indication of how "sticky" your website is.

A good statistic to keep is Page Views divided by the number of

Visitors you have. This statistic will give you a good idea if your

content is interesting and if your visitors are staying on your site for a

long time and surfing.

Some people are intimidated by web traffic statistics (mostly

because of the sheer volume of data available), but they shouldn't be.

While there are many highly specialized statistics that can be used for

more in-depth web traffic analysis, the above areas alone can provide

invaluable information on your visitors and your website performance.

Remember, this data is available for a reason. It's up to you to use it.

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1.9.2 Tracking Your Sales

Like any business, it is absolutely vital to track and maintain your

sales records. You should have a clear understanding of your income

and expenditures.

There are many ways to keep track of your sales. Using orthodox

methods such as keeping a paper journal is time consuming. Simple

spreadsheet programs as well as basic accounting software are

available at minimum or no cost. However, it is advisable to install

advanced accounting software such as QuickBooks, Quicken, or

Microsoft Money to keep track of your accounting.

Such advanced programs save you time by sorting your register

transactions by date, transaction amount, document number (e.g.

check number), order entered, or cleared status. The tracking feature

included in such software tracks, by user, changes made to each

transaction. Daily, weekly, monthly as well as yearly sales reports can

be generated with a few clicks. These reports help you analyze the

sales of each and every product. Logs and reports can be generated to

keep track of all your customers.

NOTE: Affiliate marketing solves many of the aforementioned

tracking problems for you automatically. When you become an affiliate

and resell other company's products for a profit, the company you are

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affiliated with keeps track of your traffic and sales automatically and

presents all this information to you in easy to read charts and graphs.

Click here to learn about a turn-key affiliate marketing system that

you can use to earn multiple streams of income on the Internet.

1.10 Building Credibility and Maintaining it

Finally, make sure that you build trust and credibility for your

business. We discussed earlier the importance of credibility. Credibility

is a key ingredient for any successful business venture. Building and

enhancing the credibility of the products and services you offer is an

ongoing and full-time effort.

Why not make sure the website you use works as hard as you do

to establish credibility? Let's look at elements that can be built into a

well-designed website to enhance credibility in the eyes of your

potential customers.

Offer a Guarantee

Nothing beats a solid, believable guarantee for building credibility

online. It may be hard to believe, but buying via the Internet is still

unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory for many people. It is up to

you, the business owner, to put their minds at ease. One way to do

this would be to offer an unconditional, 100% money back guarantee.

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By assuming all of the risk, you will earn instant credibility points with

most potential customers.

Provide Contact Information

Even the best guarantee won't help establish credibility if the

potential customer cannot contact you. Post accurate contact

information on your website and make it easy to find. Provide as many

methods of contact as possible; do not simply post a link to an email

address. For maximum credibility, post the complete mailing address,

phone number (preferably a toll free number), and email addresses for

customers to use if they feel the need to contact you.

Provide a Brief Bio

Familiarity is one of the most effective tools for building credibility

on the Internet. How do you establish familiarity in a faceless,

impersonal medium like the Internet? Simple, tell people about

yourself. Post a page that provides a thumbnail sketch that describes

who you are. Be sure to include personal data as well as professional

credentials. Place your photo on the page so people can put a face

with your name. Creating familiarity will impart another level of

credibility for you and, by extension, for the product you represent.

In this chapter, we looked at how to build your website and

explained many of the elements your website must contain to be

effective. We discussed web hosting and domain names and even

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talked about how to use expiring domain names to get free traffic

flowing to your website. And we're only getting started! In the next

chapter, we're going to look more closely at some of the more popular

and successful Internet business ideas.

NOTE: Would you like an easy way to start making money online?

I've created a simple, turn-key, 3-step system that you can use to

launch your very own money-making website on the Internet within

the next 24 hours. Click here to learn more about it and enroll today.

- 57 -

2. Internet Business Ideas

2.1 Leverage the Advantages of the Net

The Internet is a vehicle that has been used to

enable higher levels of communication between

people, companies and countries throughout the world. It means your

online business does not just have to concentrate on local markets -

and almost no place is out of reach! If your business has a website,

this in itself means it is accessible by the global market, and it is vital

that your business take advantage of this.

Internet selling is on the rise. There are many research studies

and statistics that support this statement. A study conducted by the

Ipsos Reid market research firm in February 2003 concludes that in

the year 1999 only 28% of worldwide Internet users purchased a

produc