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How To Make Money Online
by Kenny Crane 04/19/08
There are many ways to make money online. Walk around your house and garage, making
a list of things you don't want anymore - and sell them on eBay. Make music videos
or comedy skits on YouTube and apply for their partner program to get paid based on
the number of views you get. Buy some products in quantity at wholesale prices and
sell them in an online store.
This article is about an easy way to begin to make money online. You won't need to
stock and ship products and you don't need to have musical or comedic talent. Simply
create some content of value, give it away freely, and receive a steady stream of
money from advertisers. Have you seen the March
2008 cover of WIRED magazine that screams "Free! Why $0.00 is the future of business"?
It's true; you can "sell" something for nothing and still earn a steady residual income.
Follow these four steps and you're on your way to making money online!
1. Make a list of things in your life that you're really passionate about.
Narrow it down to a few that you feel you could write about on a regular basis for
a long time. Google those remaining topics and see which is the most popular - you
can tell by which gets the most results. Commit to writing about that topic. Not a
writer? Find a partner who is, or buy content from Freelance Writers like this site
does.
2. Pick a format for your website.
Decide between a blog or a website. Blogs are easier to set up but you won't have
complete control of what kinds of content you can put there, how to organize the site
and navigate it, and what kinds of ads can be placed. For example, a Blogger blog
can be set up in minutes and you can choose a pre-made template. But it's hard to
change the look and feel of the site, even if you know HTML. Older posts are harder
to access. They only allow 3 Google AdSense blocks per page. If you make your own
website, you are in complete control. You can customize the look and feel any way
you want. Add different pages for news, pictures, FAQ, Sitemap, contact page, content
and sub-content. Add any kind of ads you want. You'll have to pay for a domain name
and you may have to pay for hosting, unless you host on a free site, but they may
add their own ads and limit your ads. Blogs are free.
3. Start to create your content.
Create a page or post that provides an overview of the topic. Create a FAQ page or
post. Continue writing content by relating how you came to be interested in this topic
and any expert experience you've had with it. Be sure to set up an email address,
or make a "Contact Us" page, so people can contact you with questions and feedback.
4. Apply for an account with Google Adsense and Amazon Affiliates.
Sign up for a Google AdSense account.
Once Google approves your site, set up your Payee information and Tax information
so Google can pay you. They will deposit your earnings right into your checking account
about a month after you hit at least $100. Decide where to place your ads. Match the
Google Ad colors with those of your website. Pick a size that fits the container.
Choose "text and image ads" so you have the maximum range of ads for Google to choose
from. Also see the Ad Formats page on the Resources tab which gives an example of
each Ad size and Format. After the first few hits to the page, Google will visit the
page and "read" the content. Then they will post ads on your page that are related
to the content on it. Read up on all the material in the Resources section of the
AdSense website. There are Optimization Tips, a Blog, Forum as well as the all-important
Program Policies and helpful Webmaster Guidelines.
Tip: Set up a separate "channel" for each spot that you put a Google Ad. This allows
you to track the performance of each ad. Google will show you how many times the ad
was seen, how many times it was clicked on, and how much you have made - in the Reports
tab. You can select the timeframe: today, this month, last month.
Tip: Periodically change the size and placement of your ads. It is best to start off
with ads in an unobtrusive place, like in a sidebar or footer. Once you build up a
following, you might decide to place an ad directly in the flow of the content (just
like you see here in the body of this article). Also, try video ads and even Video
Units which will show YouTube videos. Finally, add some referral ads for AdSense itself
and other Google products like the FireFox browser.
Become an expert on the latest and greatest AdSense tips by getting your hands on
the very reasonably priced ($9.95) AdSense
Secrets 4.0 Report from online guru Joel Comm. Click
here to check it out! It's a very small investment to make in your new moneymaking
website and it will pay back the purchase price very quickly.
Sign up for the Amazon
Affiliates program and place ads for Amazon products of your choosing on your
website. You'll find a link to "Build Links/Widgets" on the left-hand side after you
log in. Here's why you should sign up, according to Amazon: "With Amazon's leadership
status in Internet e-commerce, Amazon Associates have many ways to make money: not
only will you earn money on the sale of books, music, and DVDs, but also on toys,
electronics, kitchen, apparel, jewelry, and more. The Amazon.com Associates program
differentiates itself from other affiliate programs by offering millions of products
to choose from, industry leading conversion rates and competitive referral fee rates
that produce more money for our Associates." Amazon produces great "conversion rates"
(the percentage of people who actually buy something after seeing and ad) because
their ads are attractive and show their great pricing. The "referral fee rates" is
the percentage of each sale that goes to you. Your shoppers will not pay any more
than they normally would at Amazon.com, but Amazon will give you a small commission
on each sale. The commission starts at 4% and rises to 8.5% based on your number of
sales per month. Amazon pays a higher 10% rate on MP3s (songs), Unbox Videos (movie
downloads) and Kindle products (their new portable electronic book reading machine).
Tip: When setting up your Amazon Affiliate account, be sure to choose to be paid by
direct deposit into your bank account, rather than by check. You will be paid when
you have made $10 or more instead of waiting for the $100 threshold for payment by
check. Also, Amazon will charge you a $15 processing fee if you choose to be paid
by check.
Tip: Amazon has different size ads, just like Google. Experiment with different sizes.
Tip: Generally, you will have to enter a product type and keywords as you create your
Amazon ads. But they also have types of ads that are supposed to be like Google Ads
in the sense that Amazon will place ads of their choice related to the content on
your page. They call these ads "Omakase." I tried them a few years back and I was
not very satisfied with their choice of ads. Maybe they are better now at choosing
ads, try it for yourself and see.
Once you have chosen your site format, added content and placed ads - monitor which
content produces the best payoff by looking at the reports pages at AdSense and Amazon.
Add more of content that people are responding to. After you get the hang of it, make
other sites on different topics to make even more money online!
Kenny Crane has been writing about YouTube
videomakers and their videos at YouTubeStars.com since
June 2006. He also publishes the YouTube
Top 100 Weekly Chart of the Most Popular YouTube videomakers.
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