Thursday, 28 January 2016

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Top 9 Best Affiliate Programs for 2015

Even though the old days when Amazon reigned supreme, and affiliate marketing was all the rage, are past, affiliate marketing is still a multi-billion dollar industry which many online entrepreneurs utilize as a primary source of earning.

The number of merchants who have adopted affiliate marketing techniques has gone up, which has led to fresh opportunities for affiliate bloggers and web publishers to develop an audience and promote offers.

The most popular method of promoting affiliate offers, for publishers, is to join an affiliate network and implement the available offers on their website. This does mean that a certain amount is deducted from their earnings, but the gains often outweigh this token fee.

If you don’t feel like scrolling all they way down… just click on the one you’re interested in below:
Best Affiliate Programs


Here are some of the top affiliate marketing programs running on the internet today:

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PeerFly

With over 1500 active affiliates, this network offers lucrative forms of commissions such as CPL, CPS and CPA. A customized, made from scratch, software is used to sign up publishers from around the globe. They have eliminated third party hosting in favour of streamlining their operations due to their click per action nature.

Pros

    Reliable custom software: You will not experience problems such as downtime.

    Global acceptance of affiliates: All types of traffic, and affiliates from around the world are accepted.

    Multiple payment methods: Wire services, Check, PayPal and Payoneer can all be utilized to get your earnings. US publishers may also opt for ACH.

    Diverse offer range: Diversity in offers means that you’ll definitely be able to find one relevant to your website.

    Flexible payment: You can get your payment any day, provided you have the minimum balance of $50 in your account.

Cons

    Tough approval system: Getting into this network can be challenging, but this is done to ensure that only genuine, reliable parties are allowed in.


    Private affiliate programs: A considerable number of product owners run their own affiliate networks which comprise of products on which is available monthly as well as lifetime commission, whenever your referral leads to a purchase of the said product. A popular affiliate software for such vendors is InfusionSoft.

Click here for more information on PeerFly.

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eBay Partner Network

This program also stands in a light comparable to Amazon’s program, since it is run by a website that is a household name around the world. Moreover, eBay awards handsome commissions. Run by Commission Junction in the UK and US, and by Afflinet in Germany, this program operates in the following manner:

    You’ll get paid if someone registers on eBay (through your link) and places a bid within 30 days of having clicked on your affiliate link.

    You’ll get paid if a user registered in this way bids at a live auction on eBay.

The buttons and banners are nicely designed, and make no attempt at concealing the fact that you’re a fan of eBay.

Pros

    Diversity of products: There are millions of products that you can choose to promote, all grouped under several dozens of categories.

    Seasonal discounts: These are offered on brand new products and allow you to acquire more sales during the holiday season.

    Swifter payment: The payment is made through PayPal, and is much faster than that of Amazon – you don’t have to wait for 60 days to get your cash.

Cons

    Cumbersome approval: You’ll need a working website with a requisite amount of traffic or your application will get rejected. Getting accepted without a website is next to impossible, and your chances with a website that has low traffic aren’t very good either.

    Earnings aren’t predictable: Based on the earnings-per-click mechanism, the earning depends on traffic quality, which means earning big will require you to attract high quality visitors to your site.



Find out how the Ebay Partner Network works.

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Neverblue

A well-known affiliate network, Neverblue has matured and established its reputation of delivering personal services as well as quality offers in order to keep its affiliates relevant. Its competitive pay-outs and diversity of offers have ensured its popularity among affiliates.

Pros

    Simple sign up: Signing up for the program is quick and easy, with only a few questions asked from you.

    Excellent UI: The user interface is one of the most streamlined ones around, and offers optimum navigation and search filtering capabilities.

    Wide selection: Affiliates can choose from a very diverse collection of offers in order to maximize their campaign’s effectiveness.

    Personalized tracking system: Organizing things is simplified thanks to the personalized tracking system integrated into the platform.

    Affiliate manager follow up: Affiliates are followed up by managers to make sure that everything is in order.

Cons

    Difficult to get accepted: Getting yourself approved after signing up can be difficult at first. This is deliberate – so as to prevent the prevalence of black hat marketing techniques.



Sign-up here.

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ShareASale


This is yet another one of the biggest affiliate programs operating on the internet, with some 3800 merchants on its list. Around a thousand of these merchants are ShareASale exclusives, and you’ve got the option to focus on these merchants, whose offers aren’t available on any other platform.

ShareASale offers plenty of statistics for the offers an affiliate is running – Average Commission, Average Sale Amount, Reversal Rates and Earnings per Click are all there. Even though these numbers aren’t express guarantees of what you’ll get paid, they definitely will give you a helpful illustration of your campaign’s attractiveness.

Pros

    Expansive network: The ShareASale network comprises of more than 3800 merchants, among whom, around 1000 are not operating on competitor platforms.

    Easy to compare offers: When you have to choose between various offers made available to you, ShareASale will allow you to evaluate the best one on the basis of key metrics.

    Rapid payment: You’ll get paid on the 20th of every month, if you have a minimal balance of $50 in your account.

Cons

    Reporting isn’t very streamlined: The reporting interface of this platform seems aged, and isn’t as intuitive as the ones offered by competitors. While definitely not a deal breaker, it does take some time to get used to.

Read more on ShareASale Click Here.

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LinkShare


Now a part of the Rakuten affiliate network, LinkShare been around since the early days of the industry. In recent years, however, it has seen its role get dwarfed compared to some of the other players such as CJ Affiliate. Keep in mind that a larger playing field is highly recommended when starting out with affiliate marketing.

LinkShare has a couple of distinct features which set it apart from the crew though. One, it automatically rotates through the various banner ads for a specific product, which makes your website easier to administer and optimize in the long run. Instead of having you manually choose the 300×250 ads that should be run, LinkShare allows the rotation of multiple versions with just one code snippet.

It also has a greater degree of flexibility when it comes to ‘deep linking’ to particular merchant landing pages, which translates into greater customization potential for your campaign.

Pros

    Rotation of ads: Even though it may appear to be a minor feature, it can prove instrumental in streamlining the consumption of your time and efforts in optimization / management.

    Flexible deep linking: You’re able to select the page of the merchant’s site that the click is directed to, which enables you to better determine the best way to funnel affiliate purchases.

Cons


    Small network: This network is much smaller than competitors such as ShareASale and CJ Affiliate, which means you’ll have fewer opportunities of landing a profitable program.

    Payments aren’t predictable: You get your cut only after the commission has been collected from the merchant, which can lead to delayed/erratic payments. This is bothersome when compared with the reliable net-20 system employed by Commission Junction.

Read more on LinkShare Click Here.

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Clickbank


If you’re a vendor of digital products, this affiliate network should definitely be a consideration for your affiliate program setup. With its 12 thousand vendors and one hundred thousand affiliates, coupled with a perfect history of timely payment, it is a strong contender for the top affiliate program. It isn’t an affiliate software; rather, it plays the role of a payment processor with a significant affiliate marketing element. This makes it easy to configure both your payments, and affiliate programs, which doesn’t take more than a few minutes.

Pros                                                                                                      

    Promote as much as six thousand products on your website: As soon as you get your affiliate ID, you’ll be able to do this without having to register each product separately.

    Higher commission rates: The majority of products sold via ClickBank are digital in nature, which means their commission rates are higher as compared to other marketplaces. You’ll be able to make between 50 and 75 percent for every sale.

    Timely payments: The impressive payment system disburses cash to affiliates through direct check deposits every one or two weeks. Even if your merchant’s business goes bankrupt, you’ll still get your payment through ClickBank.

Cons

    Before you get your first pay-out, you’ll have to be patient due to the fact that you have to meet two requirements: Customer distrubution and your payment threshold

    Product scams: Sometimes, you may be promoting a product that fails to meet your expected returns. This is likely due to the product being a scam, something that certainly exists on ClickBank. If the rate of product returns is 10-20%, stay well clear of it.

For more information on Clickbank Click here.

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Commission Junction


Now known as CJ Affiliate, this is one of the most expansive networks around, and all those who have dabbled in affiliate marketing, even briefly, will have likely come across it. Nearly all major merchants have offers listed on Commission Junction, which makes it something of a one-stop shop in the industry. Multiple creative sizes are available from the majority of advertisers, which means publishers have a greater control on performance. With such an extensive network, its no wonder this is one of the most popular and best affiliate networks around.

Keep in mind that this affiliate program requires constant management/monitoring, unlike the set and forget systems of AdSense and others.

Pros

    Vast network: With over three thousand merchant partners, and plenty of flexibility in terms of affiliate links and creative sizes, this program will find an ad suitable for your site regardless of the niche it covers.

    Payment reliability: The net-20 payment system ensures timely reception of commission each month.

    Robust reporting: Impressive reporting capabilities enable performance optimization tweakers to play with their site’s ad configuration as much as they want.

Cons

    Difficult to familiarize with: The powerful reporting abilities mentioned above aren’t easy to come to grips with for beginners.

    Little customer support: The only way to acquire support is to fill a contact form, which can be quite frustrating at times. However, it is impossible to provide full scale support due to the very large number of merchants and affiliates who are part of the program.

For more information visit Commission Junctions Sign up page.

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Amazon Associates



In some regards, Amazon has the most vast affiliate program of them all, containing products from over 1.6 million vendors (i.e. anyone selling products on their site), as well as thousands and thousands of affiliates. Amazon’s affiliate program mechanism is the most user friendly and easy to grasp, which makes it ideal for non-tech business minded people looking to earn money on the internet. It also provides advanced features such as APIs for sophisticated developers. Many think of Amazon as just a small ticket network but a little searching and you will realize that this can be one of the best high ticket affiliate programs out there. Many internet marketers would tell you that this is the best affiliate program they have ever worked with. And who can blame them when you can earn a living solely on being an amazon associate.

Pros
    Easy to use: The interface is intuitive and uncluttered, ideal for beginners and pros alike.

    Greatest flexibility: The millions of products sold on Amazon mean that you can choose from a very large number of ads / affiliate links to put on your website.

Cons

    Smaller commissions: The starting point for commissions is a measly 4 percent, which means you’ll have to gather quite a large number of sales before the affiliation becomes sustainable.

    Extended pay cycle: The net-60 model of payments employed by Amazon means you won’t get money for a sale until two months after it has occurred.

For more information check out Amazons Associates Guidelines.

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Google AdSense

Google AdSense, also known simply as AdSense, is a high paying affiliate program network owned and run by the search engine giant Google. It provides advertisement units to publishers, who have to sign up for the program network which enables them to use their publisher account to earn money through the ads posted by Google on their website / blog. Each publisher gets a unique ID upon signing up, which is used to generate ad codes for their website so they can start earning cash. You can see why adsense is on of the top affiliate networks for website and blog owners alike just by looking at our pros and cons list.
Pros

    Low traffic requirements: If your website contains unique content of good quality, you will have no trouble getting approved, since it requires very little traffic – 100 or more unique visitors each day, regardless of whether your blog/site has a sub level domain or a top level domain.
    Multiple monetization options: As a publisher, you will not be restricted to earning cash through posting ads directly on your website – you can monetize through search, feed, videos, mobile site, and online games etc.
   
   Multiple language support: Google AdSense is the sole publisher network to allow posting ads in languages other than English. In fact, over thirty different languages are supported!

    No waiting time for ads to show up: Because of the very long list of advertisers present in Google AdWords, ads will start showing up in your Ads space the moment you supply the ad code on your blog.
  
   Multiple ad formats: Text ads, display ads, link ads, rich media ads and video ads are all the various formats in which you can post ads on your website to earn money.

    Highest revenue share for publishers: As compared to other publisher networks, you’ll earn a greater cut of the revenue if you employ Google AdSense. For content, the revenue share is 68 percent, whereas for search, the revenue share is 51 percent!

    Country specific payment methods: Depending on the country you reside in, Google AdSense will let you receive your payments using options which are readily available in your country.

Cons

    Strict uniqueness restriction: If even a single article on your website gets flagged as plagiarized, you won’t be able to get your AdSense application approved. This also includes the content which was originally yours, and was copied by another party.

    Payment threshold: You won’t be able to withdraw earnings under $100, which can be a bother for smaller businesses.

For more information on one of the best affiliate programs check out Googles Adsense policies.

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Methods to Make On the web Cash flow

The web features caused it to be possible to build more varieties of unaggressive on the web earnings. Unaggressive earnings is one of several varieties of earnings, while classified from the IRS. 


The most common method to obtain unaggressive earnings is via on the web advertisements.

Promoting types

On the web marketers offer many different promotion types where promotion online marketers can be found repayment in return regarding mouse clicks, impacts or for every single percentage. For instance, a great e-commerce internet site may well provide a percent from the profits earned through income after having a user arrives on the affiliate';s hyperlink.

Creating unaggressive earnings

The dimensions of the unaggressive earnings earned from the promotion online marketers comes from the quantity of end users which see the hyperlink and are also forced from the advert or context the hyperlink is embedded in. As a way to bring in visitors and also take full advantage of mouse clicks, promotion online marketers need to generate content which is interesting towards end users which enables it to in addition bring in visitors that is likely to click on the back links and buy the goods conversely.

The need regarding content

For this reason, many sites that are promotion online marketers will need content, which can be most often word. Even so, this content also can include images, downloads, application, online video media and also other sorts of apps and also varieties of multimedia system. Online marketers earn a unaggressive earnings via advertisements either by making this content on their own or by subcontracting the creation with this content away to help various other content creators.

Unaggressive and also energetic payment

This can be covered either via unaggressive or energetic installments. A number of site owners choose to write about a percentage from the internet site cash flow using the content creators, whilst various other sites choose to spend content creators a set payment, that symbolizes a lively type of earnings. Toned expenses present content creators by having an quick gratification for your content founder, although content together with a large amount of opinions can earn considerably more unaggressive earnings.

E-commerce and also auctions

Advertisements are just a single manner in which earnings is earned on the web. One more solution to earn money is through the promoting connected with services and products. A lot of products are traded about e-commerce sites and also sell sites. E-commerce sites generally sell a choose type of items, together with products sold commonly with a arranged value. Sell sites allow customers and also retailers in order to meet on the web. Customers can bet about products, using the maximum buyers getting the piece available for sale.

Private agreements

The putting in a bid principle can be employed to sell providers about many different putting in a bid sites. In this type, consumers can post projects and also specialists can bet within the venture. However, the bet symbolizes the payment the specialist needs being covered the venture. The customer can pick buyers in line with the recommended payment, the professional';s recommendations and also examples that are introduced towards buyer.

Even so, this specific just symbolizes one of many methods consumers and also independent companies may appear in concert. A lot of consumers may advertise the importance regarding providers about on the web classified sites, content mills and also community forums. With regard to far more high-profile projects, natural talent is generally found via word-of-mouth or from the independent company promotion her or his providers with a personalized internet site. While consumers may well spend a set payment regarding providers, a number of consumers and also independent companies figure out a great constant rate or maybe a profits write about program.

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How to Earn Money from Home with Your Writing Skills

Want to make money from home? Use your writing skills to start your own at-home freelance writing career.

Writing is something that many people love and probably more people hate. Not everyone is good at it, but if you're a decent writer, you can earn extra income from it or even make a career at it. Use these steps to get started.

Start a Career in Writing
 

Hone your Skills

If you want to start a career in writing, your first step is to hone your writing skills. The best way to do this is to write. That could mean practicing with articles you don't get paid for, but I recommend writing low-paying articles to start if your quality isn't to the standard yet of higher paying work. From then on, everything you write will help you be a better writer.

You can also be a better writer by reading more and reading about how to write. Reading in general will help a lot, especially if you read what you're writing about. For example, if you're going to focus on writing about gardening, read everything you can about the subject. Read books, magazines, articles online, etc. Also, watch videos and practice gardening. This will improve your skills and your knowledge.

You can also be a better writer by reading books about writing such as the ones below. They will help you improve your skills.


How to Make Money from Writing

When you're looking for money making ideas online, you'll notice that writing is a popular one because there are so many opportunities. Click here for other ideas. I suggest starting small with your writing and as you improve your skills and build up your portfolio, you can begin to search for better paying work and more advanced articles.

There are several sites available that allow you to join and do a practice article which places you on a level. Then, you can choose from article requests that are posted in your level and get the corresponding pay. Here are a few sites like this:

  •     TheContentAuthority.com
  •     Textbroker.com
  •     MediaPiston.com
  •     WriterAccess.com
  •     Scripted.com

These are fast, easy ways to start earning money from your writing. Even as you progress, you can advance to more difficult, better-paying assignments, but these are great to fill in your time and supplement your income until you get better work.


What to Write About

Essentially, you could write about absolutely anything you want. However, narrowing down your topics will allow you to become an expert in your niche. The more you write in one area, the more extensive and catered your writing portfolio will be to that industry or area. People will choose you to write because you're the expert in that field.

What do you enjoy, know a lot about, and have experience in? It's best to start with your education and career. If you're a teacher with a degree in teaching, you can write about all things teaching. If you're an engineer, you can write about that.

You can also think about your hobbies if your career isn't interesting enough to write about, you don't want to write about it, or there isn't much demand for articles in that field. Here are just a few hobbies that could be good ideas that are in demand:

  •     Finance - Investing and saving money
  •     Gardening
  •     Getting healthy and eating write
  •     Exercising
  •     Hiking
  •     Arts and Crafts
  •     Home Improvement
  •     Collecting
  •     Video Games

Think about what you like to do in your spare time, learn as much as you can about it, and start writing.

Advancing in Your Writing Career

As you write more and more, begin to look for freelance writing opportunities above and beyond content mills. Wizzley.com is a great opportunity. You can write and create your own pages and make money for them. If you like article promotion, this adds a great opportunity. The more you promote your page, the more earning potential there is.

You can also try working directly with clients. Look on freelance writing job boards and look for job postings. Some clients are looking for one-time assignments while others are looking for columnists or regular workers. You could write for blogs, newspapers, magazines, or internet publications.

Don't be picky about where you write. Even the small blogs and beginning sites are a great way to flesh out your portfolio. Set up a website about yourself and post links to all your existing work. You can use this as a part of your resume for future assignments.

If you want to ensure that your writing career flourishes and is successful, just keep writing. Even if you have to work for a few pennies per word for several months or you can't live off your earnings in the beginning, the more you practice and the more you get your name out there, the more in demand you will be.

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How to Earn Money on Wizzley with Chitika

Many online writers don't have an Adsense account. But Chitika offers an alternative, so you can still earn advertising revenue.

I've decided to use Chitika on Wizzley because I want a diverse income stream. But if you are able to use Adsense here, that is a better option.

However, if you don't already have an Adsense account, you won't be able to apply for one using your Wizzley pages.

In that case, the decision to instead use Chitika is an easy one. Fortunately, it's not difficult to get your own Chitika account, and this is how many writers are able to participate in Wizzley's ad-share revenue program. For instance, I was able to join Chitika without first proving myself, such as creating pages that immediately generated a lot of traffic.

Flickr photo by 401(K) 2013
 

Signing Up Was Really Simple

Getting a Chitika account was really easy. I just provided the company with a little bit of information, such as my email address, the platform I was writing for (Wizzley) and my selected username. This the the name I entered in my settings, in order to earn from the ads displayed on my articles.

Unfortunately, though, I made the mistake of putting my Chitika ID in the wrong spot on the Wizzley settings page. It took me a couple weeks to realize this error, after logging into my Chitika account and noticing no activity, such as impressions or clicks. Everything was a line of zeros. This was in no way the fault of the company. Just my own. If you do decide to join Chitika, make sure you enter your information on Wizzley correctly, in the Chitika Username box, instead of the Chitika Channel box.

Once I fixed this, I then began to see impressions. My earnings still registered zeros for a couple of months, but this is beginning to change. Partly because I'm learning how to optimize my Wizzley pages for Chitika ads.

I must be honest though. You're very unlikely to earn as much with Chitika as you are with using Adsense on your pages. This is also complicated by the fact that you can no longer turn on your Chitika text link ads, which appear as bright blue hyperlinks in the body of your articles. Nor can I use the hover feature, in which ads pop up. However, I wasn't entirely sold on the hover feature anyway.

Since I've turned the hyperlinks off, my revenue has fallen. I'm not sure quite what to do about this, which, unfortunately, has contributed to my decision not to add as many pages here, and to focus more on my own blogs.

Chitika has Good Support

Chitika was founded in 2003 by Venkat Kolluri and Alden Do Rosario, two former Lycos employees. The company now based in Westborough, Massachusetts. The name "Chitika" is an East Indian word that means "in a snap." That about sums up the process of signing up, as well as contacting customer support.

After signing up I've had to email customer support with questions. Within a very short amount of time my queries were answered, and it's always been by the same representative. He's been very patient, because I've had a lot of questions.

I've had even more since I've decided to use Chitika on four of my blogs. Even though the blogs are new, I'm starting to see a little spare change.
Chitika Gives You the Ability to Diversify Your Income

It's a bad idea for anyone who's trying to earn a living online to have just one income stream. You need a number of earning channels, such as Chitika, which, if you have your own website, can be used along with Adsense.

At Wizzley, however, you must choose between Chitika and Adsense. But it's a good alternative for publishers who can't use Adsense. This is a lifesaver for people who've signed up here, or would like to write here, but don't have an Adsense account.

I Immediately Monetized My Blogs With Chitika

I'd already had my Chitika account for a few months before I decided to start a blog. There was no separate approval process that I needed to undergo before adding Chitika. I simply logged into my Chitika account, and copied an HTML code for the style and color of the ads I wanted to display. Then I pasted the code into an HTML capsule on my blog. You can see one of my blogs and the Chitika ads by clicking here. Notice the blue hyperlinks? Those are Chitika ads.

Then I decided to monetize three additional blogs with Chitika and it was just as easy to do.

Most of the Chitika ads we see on Wizzley are lines of text. So I was pleasantly surprised to look at my blogs one day and notice some attractive display ads. Chitika support told me the company planned to use more of these in the future. I think this is a positive move that will help both Chitika and its publishers.

Earn Money by Referring Others to Sign Up for Chitika

You can earn money on Chitika by displaying its ads on your Wizzley pages, as well as your other sites. You also receive 10 percent of the earnings, for 10 months, from each publisher you refer to Chitika.

If you'd like to use Chitika to monetize your Wizzley articles, please feel free to click on the banner below and sign up.

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How Can You Earn More Money Online

Learn these easy steps to maximizing your online income whether you are an affiliate or are selling your own products.

The secret to earning money online isn't selling, it's solving problems. Learn how to take your knowledge and experience and use it to increase your online income. There are 4 basic ways to earn money online:

1. Sell other peoples products
2. Sell your own products
3. Provide services for others (freelance writing is one example)
4. Provide Advertising space

The most common way for beginners to make money is advertising. They create a website and put some Adsense Google Ads then sit back and wait for the money to roll in. Of course it frequently doesn't work that well so they start to ask, "How can I earn more money?"

It doesn’t matter how wonderful you are or how pretty your website is. If you aren’t solving a problem or providing value you aren’t going to make any money.

  •     Step 1 is to figure out a problem.
  •     Step 2 is to find or create a solution.
  •     Step 3 is to market that solution
  •     Step 4 is to make money.
Step 1 - Find a Problem to Solve

It really isn’t that hard to find a problem that needs a solution. Take a look at your life, your hobbies, your work and the people you enjoy being with. Make a list of complaints you hear or that you make yourself over the course of a week and review them. Chances are you will find some simple problems that already have solutions available. All you have to do is market the solutions to the right people.

It doesn’t have to be a big problem and you don’t have to create the solution yourself, though this is the most profitable way to make money. One example of a simple problem is one common to long distance runners. Clothes rub and chafe and it is very painful. There is a product called Body Glide that eliminates this problem. If you happen to be a runner and already have a group of friends who also run you could create a website that compares body glide to other similar products, makes a recommendation and then sells the product you recommend.

Make sure that you have actually used the product you are selling. People may have questions before they buy and if you can't answer them, they won't make the purchase. It is also easy to write about products or services you have actually used. People appreciate some 'insider' info and will be more likely to purchase.


Step 2 - Find the Solution

In the example of the Body Glide the solution already exists. This is true for many common problems, but people don't have the time to do the research to find a solution.When you take the time to find a quality solution for their problem you are already on your way to earning more money.

However there may be a problem that doesn’t have an existing solution. This is often true with processes that are difficult. One example is homework. I have never met a parent yet who didn’t complain about helping their kids with homework. I happen to have a degree in Elementary Education as well as 2 children  so I felt qualified to write an Ebook with tips and techniques for parents to get their kids to do homework. I created a website for the book and started selling. Because I am active in my children's classroom I was able to persuade the teacher to include a link to my book in her weekly email home to the parents. I was able to combine my personal knowledge with my life and provide a solution directly to the market that needs it most.

If you have some expertise or knowledge you can create your own solution. It doesn't have to be an ebook.  You could create a video tutorial or a podcast. Whatever method you are most comfortable with.

If you don’t want to create your own product you can check for solutions at places like Click Bank and JVZoo where there are many ebooks and other electronic solutions available. Make sure you are selling quality items though or you won’t earn more money, just a bad reputation.


Step 3 - Market the Solution

In order to earn more money you need to market effectively. This is where your existing relationships are so important. Don’t try to solve a problem for a group of people you don’t know. This is also the reason I suggested you listen to the people around you - they are your natural market. If you participate in a hobby, are a member in a club, volunteer or participate in a regular activity these are connections you can use to market. Start close to home, even before you have your website available. If you start talking about the solution without selling it, people will listen to you a lot more. Once you are ready to sell you can simply tell people that you are ready and can they please check out your site to give you feedback. You don't have to ask them to buy anything. If you have a good solution they will buy it because you recommend it as the right product.

Use your existing online social media as well as your offline relationships to market your solution. If you are active on Facebook or Twitter and talk about your product without selling it you will be better off in the long run. Social media is for being social, not selling. But it is an excellent place to get your name out to the public. People who have built a relationship with you are far more likely to purchase something you have recommended.

Step 4 - Earn More Money

Earning more money is the result of these steps. It is always a good idea to have more than one form of income, even on the same website. You may not always make sales through advertising or even through product sales, but if you combine these options you will definitely make more money overall.

Online marketing is always changing and it is important to keep up with the latest trends. Once you have marketed to your existing circle of influence you can expand on that by experimenting with advertising yourself. Use the increased income to try new things and so earn even more money online.

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

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10 Smart Strategies to Create a Website That Wows

Developing a website that's worthy of the blood, sweat and tears you're putting into your business isn't as easy as it sounds. These 10 tips can help guide you through the process.


Developing an effective website is one of the biggest investments a company can make. Regardless of whether you sell products and services online or operate strictly in brick-and-mortar storefronts, establishing and maintaining an online presence will go a long way toward cementing your long-term success.

Unfortunately, many people perpetuate the myth that developing a website requires no experience or skill. While the flow of easy-to-use Web design tools and platforms has certainly given the average Internet user the ability to build, run and maintain a website, that doesn’t mean everyone is qualified to build, run and maintain a high-quality site.

To create a website that’s engaging, effective and authoritative, you’ll need to identify and manage the issues that really matter. Let's take a look at 10 critical decisions you’ll have to make during the design process.

1. Choosing a Hosting Service

Before you do anything else, you’ll need to select a service to host your website. There are plenty to choose from, and each has a similar—yet unique—value offering. Doing your due diligence in this area will save you time, effort and frustration in the long run.

2. Deciding on Existing Template Versus Custom Site

One of the first decisions you’ll have to make is whether to use a predesigned template or create a custom website. For large corporations, a custom website is probably the best way to go. That ensures everything is tailored to your unique needs. Smaller companies can get away with using predesigned template files and may find them a more feasible and affordable alternative to the more expensive custom solutions.

3. Hiring Help

Designing a website isn’t quite as simple as ads and short guide videos make it look. To fully unlock your site’s potential, you may need the assistance of a graphic designer or Web developer. By collaborating with qualified professionals, you can convey your brand’s identity and message to customers and site visitors much more effectively.

4. Determining Content, Design and Structure

The key components of any website are content, design and structure. Content needs to be valuable, informative and pleasing to the search engines. Design should attract your visitor’s eye but not distract from essential calls to action and conversion goals. According to Web host iPage, “The right font and colors can dress up your site and make your pages pop.” Pages should be structured so they flow effortlessly from one to the next.

5. Choosing Images and Photos

Nobody likes a site full of large, uninterrupted blocks of text. An aesthetically pleasing website contains integrated photos and images to keep viewers engaged and interested. The big decision here is whether to harvest existing images or have unique photos taken. Many sites take advantage of free, pre-existing images in certain areas but also use unique photos of specific products and company features.

6. Optimizing Landing Pages

While your site’s home page is the most important part of your website, landing pages are a close second. It’s best to focus your efforts on developing two or three high-quality landing pages and optimizing your ads and inbound links to feed into them. By creating top-notch landing pages, you can lower bounce rates and keep traffic moving through your site.

7. Keeping SEO in Mind

Don’t assume that if SEO algorithms and rules keep changing, that must mean they’re not that important. You need to pay attention to best SEO practices and follow them wherever possible. A well-developed site is completely useless if it isn’t readily visible.

8. Making Content Shareable

Your biggest ally in Internet marketing is your consumer base. To fully capitalize on your site’s potential, you’ll need to let your customers do some of the heavy lifting. You can encourage this by creating content that's engaging and shareable.

9. Creating Responsive Web Design

The new standard for website development is responsive Web design. This means creating a website that can be viewed the same way on a mobile device as it is in a desktop browser. Search engines are starting to reward websites for investing in responsive design. While older sites are slowly transitioning to responsive design, all new sites should invest in it from the start.

10. Making It Easy to Change

Anyone who sets their website in stone is committing a major error. Your site should be designed with flexibility in mind. As commercial trends, customer tastes and products change, your site should evolve with them.

When you’re developing your company's website, it’s important to stay both focused and realistic. There are certain things you can do on your own, but other tasks are better left to someone with the expertise and time to get it done—after all, you have a business to grow.