Previously, we have seen some of the technical aspects of building a website for your small business, namely planning the site building and determining whether you will want to use a Content Management System (CMS) to operate your website. While these are all important considerations, once you get them squared away, it is now time to move ahead and start building your site. Here are the main elements that you would be including in your site:

• Product information

Obviously, you will want people to know more about your company’s products and services. After all, this is why they came to your website in the first place, no? Add some details about your products, pricing, etc.

• Relevant details about your industry/niche

Here, you will be giving your site visitors some information that is not directly related to promoting your products. Like what, for example? Let’s say that you sell laptop parts. You could include some tutorials about how to take apart various models of laptops, how to remove the screen, replace the keyboard, etc. Basically, things that are relevant to what you are selling, without promoting your products too much. You can also include multimedia content here, such as videos as well.

• Background information about your business

This section will simply contain some basic information about your business, such as the types of products that you sell, the amount of time that you have been in business for, who the company leaders are, etc. This will help the visitor find out more about you and will give them the reassurance that they are dealing with a legitimate company.

• Contact information and ways to get in touch with you

Your contact information, such as your phone number and address, should be featured prominently on your site, as well as in the header and footer of every one of your pages. After all, you want your visitors to contact you, right? Don’t make them dig through 10 pages before they are able to find your phone number. You can also include a contact form that will allow a visitor to send you a request for information or an inquiry, and then you can respond to them via e-mail or by phone. Including live chat support on your site is also a great idea, if you will be able to have someone on staff ready to provide support by live chat to your visitors, at least during regular business hours.

• Links to your social media pages

Social media is an excellent business tool, and this has been stated numerous times by industry experts. Because of this, it will always be a wise idea to include links to your Facebook and Twitter pages. Also, on your content posts and product, include a “Like” button for Facebook, which wil let the user share that page with their friends. If your business has a YouTube channel, just link to it from your website. This will allow them to quickly check out all of your videos that you have uploaded to YouTube.

We all know that running affiliate or CPA offers is a great way to bring in big money online. If you have been at it for a while, you have probably developed some useful internet marketing skills. If you want to make some fast cash, you can use these skills to your advantage by doing another type of marketing work: helping local businesses make their presence known online.

Note that this method is not something new or earth shaking. It has been discussed in many threads all over internet marketing forums. It has also been the topic of several informational products, some which sell for several hundred dollars. But you don’t really need these “super” products to do this. Some basic skills and resourcefulness are all that you would need.

To get started you will need the following:

Your own website and domain name – You don’t have to make it into a beautiful site filled with multimedia content (unless you can actually do this in a short amount of time). Just a regular site based on a free “business” template that is provided by many hosts will do.

A dedicated phone number. A toll free number would be great and can be obtained for less than $15 a month. Yes, you really need a phone number for your business. This will make it appear a lot more “professional” in the eyes of your clients and you will also appear more trustworthy in their eyes. If you are low on funds at the moment then there are plenty of free services online which give you a virtual phone number that you can use for an internet phone application and it also comes complete with voicemail.

Basic web design skills. You don’t need to be an expert. However, you should be able to create a basic website on your own. This is actually quite easy today, due to the fact that there are thousands of templates and web builder programs available online for free or at a low cost. You will just need to know how to use them efficiently.

Decent web marketing and promotion skills. Again, no need to be an expert. However, you will need to know how to do basic SEO, PPC (pay per click ads), social media marketing and using business directories and classified ads. If there is an area of marketing that you are not too familiar with, then simply read some materials online in order to learn more about it. There’s plenty of free stuff available online if you look in the right places.

Now, what will we be doing with this? Basically, you are going to be running your own web marketing agency, providing your clients with a complete set of solutions to use the internet in order to get new customers and increase their profits. While this is an actual BUSINESS that you will be running (and not just slapping up a few ads and calling it a day), you can make it as small or as big as you like. Check back tomorrow for more information on how to get clients and what to offer them.

If you are going to do business online, chances are you will need to put together a website. Whether you will only have one main website for your business or will need several different sites in order to promote products, you will obviously need a place to host your site. Here are certain things to look for when selecting a web host:

Bandwidth and storage

Today, many web hosting providers offer unlimited or very high storage limits. If your site is just a few pictures and some text pages, this won’t be much of a concern for you. But if you plan on running several sites, or include content that takes up a lot of space like videos or interactive games, it is something to look at. Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred to and from your site every month. It won’t be much of a concern if you are just getting a few hundred hits a day or less and your site is relatively small in size. But if you host multimedia content such as streaming videos, or your site gets immensely popular all of a sudden, you may get close to your bandwidth limit. Note that if your bandwidth usage goes through the roof, even a host with supposedly “unlimited” bandwidth can kick you out.

Reliability

Everyone wants their site to be available at all times. After all, every minute that your site is down could mean lost money for you. While every host will advertise something like 99.9% reliability, it can be quite difficult to determine whether this is actually real or if it’s just an advertising gimmick. The best way to find out is to read some reviews online from some other webmasters to see what they think about a particular web host.

Price

Of course, this is a main point in making a decision about signing up for any service, including a web host. With decreasing costs and competition in the industry, the cost of web hosting has gone down in recent times. Do take note that certain web hosts require that you prepay for a certain amount of time. Some of them also give monthly rates, but they could work out to be more expensive than if you had taken a plan and paid in advance for a year or more. But you also need to consider as to whether you still plan on having that site up during all that time. Note that even if you decide to build a new site and get rid of your old one, you could still keep your hosting account. You would just need to get a new domain name and set it to point to your hosting account. But note that price should not be your main concern. Even if a host gives the best rates but their server goes down for hours each day, it will not be much of a benefit for you to use them.

Many people seek advice on how they can earn money online. A great deal of those are interested in earning a full time income with their own internet based business. The problem is, the majority of them will never make it. Here are some common misconceptions about making money online that people have. Those who fall for these are often the ones that end up quitting.

Pizza delivery boy discovers secret to earning online and rakes in $1000 on his first day!!!!

Well, strange things have happened. Some people DID become instantly successful online. But the odds of that happening to you are very low. In fact, you probably have better odds at winning the lottery. All those stories that you see on sales pages are either outright fantasy, or based on a small amount of truth but were subsequently embellished. While it is definitely possible to earn four figures a day, it will take you a lot of trial and error, and you will need to acquire a lot of experience before you are able to do so.

Working from home is easy! Earn money by sitting on your couch!!

No it’s not. And no, you don’t just sign up for an affiliate program and wait for the truck full of money to arrive at your door. You will need to do actual work if you want actual results. While there are many ways to optimize your operations and make them more efficient, therefore reducing the amount of time you are actually “working”, there is no such thing as a true “set and forget” system that will bring you money without any actions. You will still have to monitor your progress and make adjustments to your campaigns.

You can get started with absolutely no money and never invest a single cent!

Again, possible, but hard to achieve in reality. Just like any business, an online business will require you to invest some money. You will need to pay for things like web hosting, domain names, advertising, etc. While there are many ways that you can get started for free or with a very small amount of money, if you want your business to grow and make you a decent income, you will probably need to put in some money of your own.

Join my program/buy my e-book/download this tool and you can be rich in 5 minutes!

Sorry, no. While there are definitely some excellent informational products, membership sites and programs that can give you very valuable information and help you achieve success online, you will actually have to use them properly if you want to make money. This means actually applying the concepts that they teach, which will take you some time to see results.

Your success is 100% guaranteed for life! You can just keep doing the same things everyday!

Unfortunately, there are no guarantees in this business. The internet is constantly evolving. When it comes to money making opportunities, some doors will close while new ones will open. You always need to be on top of your game and be aware of new developments in the industry.

We’ve already talked a little bit about how you can turn your talents into profits on the internet. There are a lot of methods other than the ones we’ve already covered, and we thought it might be a good idea to take another look at the topic. so, without further ado, here are some more ways to turn your talents into profits.

Twitter Backgrounds

If you have any artistic ability, and a copy of Photoshop at your disposal, you can probably crank out a half decent looking Twitter background in a short amount of time. Twitter backgrounds don’t generally sell for much, but they also don’t take a lot of time to create. Once you have a reputation for creating decent backgrounds, you can begin taking custom orders for higher prices. Generally speaking, if you can crank out graphic work quickly, and without a lot of hassle, Twitter backgrounds can be a great way to bring in some money.

Design Contests

A lot of companies and websites offer logo design contests. In these contests, graphic artists submit a logo in hopes of winning the prize money offered. Just to be clear, this isn’t a good idea for an established graphic designer. If you’ve been working in the field for some time, there are better ways to get clients, and you’ll be guaranteed payment instead of hoping to win prize money. If you’re just starting out in design though, entering logo contests is a great way to build up your portfolio, and possibly generate some income at the same time.

Local Businesses

If you’re a talented web designer, you can make decent money by approaching local businesses to see if they’re looking to create or upgrade an online presence. Be prepared with information about what the internet can do for them, and they’ll be more likely to take you up on your offer.

Graphic and web designers stand to make decent money on the internet. Knowing which methods to choose can ensure that you’ll make a great deal of money from your design talents.

A strong internet marketing campaign is nothing without traffic. The more traffic you can generate for your website, the more potential customers you’ll have looking at your products. There are a few important things you can keep in mind in order to help you drive traffic to your site, and ultimately, generate more sales.

Research

Do some research to determine what qualities your audience is looking for in a website. If you already have a little bit of traffic, offer your current audience a poll about what features they’d like to see you implement in the future. If you’re just starting out, take a look at other sites in your niche, and see what types of features they’re offering their audience. Do everything in your power to offer your audience a rich set of attractive features.

Strong Writing

No matter what niche you’re in, chances are, you’re not alone. That means your content has to stand out if you’re going to succeed in driving more traffic to your site. Take the time to write strong articles, and other interesting content for your site. Don’t just try to recreate what other sites in your niche have done, try to do something different, and unique. If you’re having trouble writing high quality content, there’s no shame in hiring a writer.

Advertise

In addition to the Google and Facebook ads you’re probably already familiar with, you can also set up deals with larger sites in your niche whereby you can get an ad placed on their site for a fixed amount of time. Be sure to get any and all information you can about their traffic, and their audience before agreeing to place the ad on their site. Also, don’t advertise on sites that don’t relate directly to your audience. You’re more likely to get new visitors from your target audience that haven’t heard of your site than you are to get visitors from a different audience all together.

So remember, do some research about your visitors’ wants and needs, set your writing apart from the crowd in some way, and advertise with larger sites in your niche. These things will help you to generate more traffic to your site in no time.

If you’re interested in starting a website, but you’ve never done it before, there are a few things you’re going to want to know before you get started. You need a few essential tools and services before you can really get your site off the ground.

Hosting

You’re going to need a place to house the files for your new website. There are a number of hosting options available to you, some of which are free, some of which are extremely expensive. It’s important to know your needs before you pick a hosting provider. The free, and cheap providers tend to be lacking in functionality, so it’s important to know what features you intend to put on your site before picking a hosting provider. If you don’t plan on developing the site yourself, ask the developer you have hired what sort of features you’ll need, and whether or not they have any hosting recommendations.

Domain Name

Your domain name should be representative of the content on your site, and if possible it should include a keyword relevant to any searches your target audience might do. Your domain name should be short, and easy to remember. If you can get a .com name rather than a .net, .org, or any of the other suffixes, that’s best. Most people try to go to the .com version of a site first, and then think about the others. As with hosting, there are a number of companies you can register a domain with. In fact, the hosting company you’re using probably offers domain registrations.

Content

You’ll also need a website full of content. If you’re not comfortable designing your own site, you can always hire a firm or a freelance contractor to do it for you. There are also a number of freely available content management systems like WordPress that make developing a website much easier. No matter what your budget, there’s a way to get a site up and running. Once your site is up and running, you’ll want to add content on a regular basis. By updating a site frequently, you are actually boosting your search rank, as search engines look at how frequently a site is updated when determining search rank.

There are a number of ways to get a new site up and running, and no matter what your budget, you can get started in a short amount of time.

It’s extremely important for every business to have an internet presence in today’s economy, and that means having a website up and running. If you don’t have a big budget, that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck, it just means you have to know how to spend the money you do have.

There are a few expenses you’re going to have to drop money on regardless of your budget, and your skill set. You’re going to need a domain name for your new website. Registering a domain name is a quick and easy process, and it will only cost you around $10 per year. Once you have a domain name, you’re going to need to invest in a web hosting package. Web hosting can cost anywhere between five dollars a month, to several hundred a month. When you’re first starting out, even if you’re anticipating a lot of attention for your website, it’s best to go with one of the cheaper packages. Chances are you won’t need the features and benefits provided with the more expensive packages in the beginning, so don’t spend money on them.

Once you have a domain name, and a place to host your site, it’s time to worry about actually getting your site up and running. There are three routes you can go here. You can either build the site yourself, pay a freelancer to build it, or pay a firm to build it. There are a lot of great options for building your own site. Blogging platforms like WordPress can be installed directly to your hosting account for free, and they make set up a snap. There are also a lot of software options available to make designing a site easy. If you already have Microsoft Office, you probably already have Microsoft Publisher. Publisher makes it fairly simple to create a nice looking website in a fairly short amount of time.

If you really feel like you can’t handle setting up the website yourself, then you’re going to have to pay someone. If you’re on a budget, you’re going to want to avoid design firms. Their prices reflect all  of the costs involved in running a large company. Freelancers, on the other hand, will generally be able to product a high quality site for you for hundreds, rather than thousands of dollars. Just be careful about who you hire. Either use a site like Elance to find a designer, or get references from them before hiring them to do the job.

Don’t be fooled into paying exorbitant amounts of money for a website. By being careful with your money, you can get your site up and running quickly no mater what your budget is.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important part of marketing which allows for greater exposure to your website(s) through the continued use of techniques which propagate positive influence. This influence will affect both internet users browsing websites as well as the Search Engines which serve up these websites. The way that this influence occurs is fairly simple to understand, although how it works exactly is not entirely known due to the constant changes being made to the Search Engine algorithms. Profiteers will wish to make the most amount of money in the least amount of time with these methods, but the best option is to build up earnings slowly and gradually for consistent results.

Simple Tricks to Taking Advantage of SEO:

SEO Software – SEO Software is available in many fashions and makes it simple to automate the process of Search Engine optimization. These options will usually guarantee a top ten ranking for keywords that are searched with little competition. Although you may not rank for the top keywords, you will rank for alternatives.

Blogging - Blogging helps to build a knowledge base for customers and interested parties to learn more. Not only does this help the image of the website, but it provides several opportunities to link back to the original website which is being promoted which in turn affects the ranking positively on the Search Engines. The fresh content from blogs also helps your site stay relevant in the search engines – and it also increases your chance on getting more links back to your website. A great tool is Ping-O-Matic for this, which basically “pings” (or notifies) all of the major search engines and blog engines when you make a new post. All you have to do is go to their website and input your details once (then save your information via a bookmark) then every time you visit that bookmark it will ping all of the major search engines to notify them of your changes you have made.

Using SEO Services – Many content providers and services will be able to make the process less time consuming for the original website owner/manager. The content provided will be made by real people and this is what makes it more visually appealing to the target audience. This method helps to connect emotionally to future consumers of your products to increase sales and improve profit margins.

Over time, using these techniques will help you increase your PageRank, increase the number of backlinks, and ultimately the number of sales or visitors you get to your website.

Many people hear about other people that make money online without spending a single penny, and jump right into it with no preparation, and then wonder why they fail.  Then, they also proceed to tell the lie that making money online without spending anything first is impossible.  Well, they are dead wrong.  You can definitely make money online without spending anything, and it all starts with a simple plan.

Your plan doesn’t need to be elaborate, but it must include goals.  Your goals must be designed to help you spend your limited time in the most effective and efficient ways possible.  90 day plans are the most common, and seem to have the most success.  They allow for enough time for you to accomplish what you need to, without giving you too much time, or rushing you.

In order to obtain your goals effectively and efficiently, you should work backwards from them, and form a checklist of what needs to happen in order for you to reach your goals.  This checklist can be as long and as detailed as you need it, or as short and vague as you need it.  It depends on what you need to be successful.  Remember, the amount o detail someone puts into their plans may not be right for you, and vice versa.  This checklist is going to be the strategy for your plan, so make sure you do a good job on it, otherwise your plans with fall through, and your goal will become unattainable.

After creating your checklist, be sure to analyze each step, and how long it will take, and give yourself a fair amount of time for everything.  Giving yourself too long will result in you probably becoming distracted, while giving yourself too short of a window will cause you to miss deadlines and become discouraged.  Once you know how long it will take, create a schedule, and get started.

There are many free programs out there, and free services, which, if taken advantage of properly, can result in you making money without spending anything.  It all relies on you sticking to your plan, though.  If you cannot stay on a schedule you created yourself, how can you make money doing anything? Let alone on the internet.  All you have to do is complete your tasks on time, and treat yourself like your own employee, not your own boss.  This way, you will be under pressure to reach your deadlines, and everything will work out, resulting in free money.

Photo credit: emdot