Previously, we’ve seen how having quality, well organized content can help you improve or maintain your ranking on search engines. But is there more? Definitely. There are a few things that you need to keep in mind if you are serious about your SEO objectives. Here are some more examples:

• Ensure your content is unique

While this may seem obvious, some webmasters still don’t seem to get it. Using content that is scraped from other sites, or is comprised of PLR articles or is taken from PLR ebooks is not a good idea. Why? Because it is not unique. There are probably thousands of web pages out there with the same exact content that you have. This will obviously penalize you when it comes to SEO.

If you need to use PLR content or other “open source” materials, such as info from Wikipedia, then you will need to rewrite it to make it unique. This has to be done by hand. While there are software programs and scripts which claim they can generate unique articles, usually you will end up with some gibberish that will be hard to understand for users and will also be bad for SEO. So the bottom line is, your stuff needs to be unique.

• Don’t buy backlinks from shady sources

This comes back to the point about not using Black Hat SEO tactics if you want long term growth for your website. While you may find plenty of “quality backlink sellers” on web forums everywhere, you should be aware of the fact that these backlinks are rarely of any good quality. Most of the time, they are included in websites that are simply link dumps, where there are plenty of links to irrelevant web pages. Or, they simply spam forums and blog comments with your website link. Of course, these links will get removed after a few days and this may even get your site blacklisted for link spam. If you have to deal with a backlink seller, then make sure that you are dealing with someone who knows what they are doing. The best backlinks will come from places that have a high amount of relevance to your website. For example, niche blogs.

• Remember to keep building quality backlinks

Instead of buying backinks, you can build them yourself. How? This is a lot easier than it sounds. You can start by creating a profile on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Include the URL of your website in your profile. Then, submit some articles to directories which have a good reputation with search engines. If you have a local business, see if you can be linked to on the website of your local chamber of commerce or other community business groups. Include your URL when you advertise on classified ads sites. All of this will get you good quality backlinks which are worth more than hundreds of backlinks from some shady sites which are nothing but a repository of spam posts.

We’ve seen that running a membership site is a great way to make some money on the internet and to give your product more value to your customers and potential customers that are looking at your sales page. But how do you actually start a membership site? What do you need to accomplish this? There are certain things you need to get before you start developing your site. Here are some of them:

• Good Web Hosting

Now, what exactly is “good web hosting” when it comes to powering your membership site? The thing is, almost any kind of web hosting will support applications and scripts designed to run a membership site. Shared web hosting, the one that costs about $5 per month, is the most popular kind of hosting out there. However, it is not recommended for this purpose? Why not? It says unlimited everything, so you should have no worries, right?

Well, unfortunately this is wrong. Shared web hosting is NOT unlimited, despite what the marketing materials for the web host say. And this is really NOT something that you want to find out the hard way after you launch your site.

You see, shared web hosts impose certain limits on your account, such as the number of files, databases and simultaneous connections to your site. Even though they may say they have unlimited bandwidth, if you start to use too much (say more than a few GB per month, which is quite easy to go over if you host several videos on your site), they will simply cut you off. They do this not out of greed, but simply because a site that is too big will use up too much of the server’s resources, thus making it slow and unstable for the other websites that are hosted on the same server in a shared hosting environment. Shared hosting would only be good if you were planning to get just a dozen or so members to your site each month.

What you should get as a hosting solution instead would be a VPS web hosting account. This basically means that you would be getting a portion of the server allocated specifically for your needs (CPU, disk space, bandwidth and RAM). Your hosting will run on a virtual machine, similar to what you would get if you would be running Windows under MacOS on your home computer. That way, you will not have to worry about competing for resources with other sites on the server and you will also never have to worry about getting your hosting suspended because you used too much bandwidth or RAM.

VPS web hosting is a bit more expensive than shared hosting. However, if you plan to make some money from your membership site, you must be willing to invest a bit of money in it. If you are planning to get a few dozen members to your site each month, then a mid range VPS would be the solution. This will cost you between $35 to $50 per month, depending on the provider that you will be using.

We have previously looked at various options that you have with regards to webhosting. Now hosting a small website can usually be done really well with just a shared hosting account. If you are just putting up a website as a hobby, you might even consider using a free web host at the beginning. But of course, none of these options are the best solutions if you are going to build a serious e-commerce site. In this case, you would be better off getting a dedicated server to host your site. Even there, you have two options. Let’s take a look at what they are.

• VPS Hosting

VPS, or virtual private server, is kind of an in between solution, between getting a dedicated server all to yourself and getting a shared hosting account. What you actually get a part of a dedicated server to yourself. It is called a virtual server, as it runs in a virtual machine on an actual server that you will share with a few other users. However, you will be assigned resources for your virtual server that only you can use, such as RAM, disk space and bandwidth. You are free to install any applications or scripts that you need to run your site as well. The pricing varies and can range from $25 to $300 a month.

Recommended for: Large scale affiliate marketing, running a medium to large e-commerce site or web store.

• Dedicated Server

Here, you get to rent a dedicated server all to yourself. You basically have the entire server just for your usage. You will get to customize the hardware that your server will have, such as the hard drive space, the CPU and the amount of RAM. A dedicated server offers unparallelled security, reliability and performance for the most demanding applications. Depending on the host, you may get to choose whether you will be using a server based on a Windows or Linux environment. Prices range from $100 to $500 a month, depending on host and server configuration chosen.

Recommended for: Large membership sites, medium to large general online business, large e-commerce sites.

Selecting a dedicated server is not complicated. All you have to do is to consider what your needs will be and then go look for a webhosting company that will offer you what you are looking for. However, it is important that you don’t base your decision solely on price. Sure, there are a few small webhosts which are able to offer very cheap prices, however based on comments from other webmasters, I can tell you that these are not always the most reliable companies to do business with. You should rather base your choice on what other webmasters who have used a certain host recommend and by reading reviews written by experts in the industry. That way, you can avoid making a mistake and going with an unreliable or problematic hosting company, but will rather end up with a quality server to power your website.

If you are thinking of starting an e-commerce website, then one of the first things that you would think about would be getting a reliable web host where you can put your site on. Anyone who is going to run an online business will need a web host. Basically, you have two options: either get a shared hosting account or rent a dedicated server.

Someone who is serious about running a successful e-commerce website will often choose to host their site on a dedicated server rather than a shared account. Here are the advantages of using a dedicated server:

More resources just for you. A dedicated server is just that: a server that is entirely dedicated for your use. No other sites are hosted on it, so its entire bandwidth, CPU, disk space and RAM are for your use only. While you may think that you would do fine on a shared account at the beginning, once your site expands you may find that you actually need your own server as your website has gotten bigger.

Better security and reliability. This advantage is the result of the fact that, once again, your server is not shared with any other site. There has been numerous occasions where a site that is hosted on a shared server has been compromised and viruses and malware have been introduced, which have infected other sites on the server. When you use a dedicated server, you get access to security solutions such as anti virus tools, firewalls, etc.

Increased flexibility and more control. You get the choice as to whether you want to run a Windows or a Linux operating system on your server. Another great point is that you have complete control as to what applications, software and scripts you can run on your server. Many large e-commerce sites require the use of software which would not be supported on a shared account, but can be easily installed and used on a dedicated server.

Selecting a Web Host

In the world of web hosting, there are hundreds of different companies that you can choose from. While they may all look to provide the same services, you should know that not all web hosting companies are the same.

When you select a web host that offers dedicated server hosting, you will need to look far beyond the price in order to make the right decision. If you simply go with the company offering the cheapest price, you might end up getting the cheapest service. Many of the “rock bottom” priced servers are actually run by individuals located in third world countries, where connectivity and reliability are not all that great.

Do a search online for reviews of dedicated server hosting providers and see what these reviews say. Also, take a look around webmaster forums to find out which companies fellow webmasters are using and whether they are satisfied with the service. This will help you narrow down your search to companies that you would want to do business with.

Now that you have your idea on the product, you need something else: funding. Yes, that’s right folks, this business will require an investment, and a rather significant one from you.

The amount that you will need will vary depending on the operation that you are setting up and how you will structure your business. In any case, at the very least you will need an amount in the five figures to invest in this. The main reason behind this is that you will need it in order to get on to CPA networks as a merchant.

The way the big CPA networks operate is that they get they get the funds from the merchant and pay affiliates for their commissions. They need to make sure that the merchant will be able to pay them and with good reasons. If the merchant is unable to pay the network for the commissions generated, the CPA company is stuck between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. If they pay affiliates out of their own pockets, they risk taking a big loss if the merchant folds without paying them. If they refuse to pay the affiliates (under most terms of service, it is their right to do so if they don’t get paid by the merchant), they will get the scorn of webmasters everywhere who often spent great amounts of money in advertising for promoting the offers as well. Tales of “Network X is a scam they didn’t pay me!!!!!! OMG!!! OMG!!!!” will rapidly fill up forums and blogs everywhere, leaving the network in full damage control mode. Potential webmasters who would sign up for the network will now avoid it. Current ones will start dropping their offers in fear of this situation happening again.

Due to all of this, many networks will need you to deposit an amount in excess of $10 000 before even considering running your offers. You will also need cash for various overhead expenses: product creation, the design of your main site and scripts, hosting, landing page design, etc. You aren’t starting your own car company or cell phone provider, so you don’t need millions. But this is not something that can be started with pocket change either.

How do you get funding? A few options are available for you. You could enlist the help of private investors. There are forums where entrepreneurs and investors meet to discuss funding various start-up businesses. You could ask a bank for financing. You could also see if the government in your country/state provides grants or loans to entrepreneurs. Since you will probably need to hire a few helpers and therefore create employment opportunities, this might qualify you for some form of help from the government. The important thing is that unless you have the cash at hand, you will need to spend some time actively looking for funding options for this project. It won’t be easy, but others have done it before and so can you.

Keeping your email opt in page clean and professional is important to showing your users trust and respect. Make sure you emphasize privacy and the purpose of your list. List the benefits of being a member of your email list such as giveaways, free information, gifts, or whatever benefits your list might have. This helps gain trust right away from your users and makes them feel like they will benefit from joining your list, rather than giving away their privacy to a third party. Trust is the most important thing you can build on your opt in page.

The opt in email page takes some time to perfect, but the main objective is to keep the person interested enough to want to give you their personal information such as an email address to offer them solicited information. This is known as opting in to receive the information and allows you to send them related information. Most people will not simply put in their information if they see no incentive or gains that they would receive for doing so. This is where you would provide a free gift for giving you their information. This allows you to provide a free gift as the ethical bribe to earn their email address information.

This means that you will be tasked with gaining the trust of opt in subscribers. The more that you work to gain the trust of the potential subscribers, the more likely they will be to opt in. Once you do get their trust to give you their information you will have to continue earning their trust. Sending them the free gift via auto-response scripts is important to utilize. Do not bombard them with spam and offers they do not need.

Delivering on the join request is very important. You will have to ensure that they will be receiving important information that they will want to read without asking them to buy anything at first. Once gaining their trust has gone on for a few days to a week, your email responses could be tailored to ask them politely to purchase a product. If they do not continue on, the next email should outline why they should buy it. After this, the emails should explain why not using the product is less effective than other products or methods. This will usually provide them with a reason to purchase within a set time frame if their interest is caught well enough.