I Make Money Online. You Can Too

When I purchased my first computer over 10 years ago, I knew

I wanted to put it to work and make money with it some how.

But I knew nothing about computers or the Internet. I knew

nothing about network marketing, search engine marketing, or

even how to create my own web site. I knew nothing about

e-mail marketing e-mail leads or how to set up an e-mail

list.

I began searching the Internet for ideas. I quickly learned

that you could join several affiliate programs and they

would supply you with a free affiliate web page.

Unfortunately getting good quality traffic to these

affiliate web pages was somewhat of a challenge. And the

Major search engines wouldn’t even list my new affiliate web

pages. So once again I was left searching the Internet for

ideas.

I kept reading over and over again to get your own domain

name and create your own web site. Then incorporate all your

affiliate links into your new web site. Create a theme and

join affiliate programs related to that theme. But I knew

nothing about creating a web site. And what the heck is

HTML?

I began creating web pages on Microsoft publisher. These

were very simple pages and now when I look back at them I

have to laugh. They were anything but professional and

publisher actually made many errors in the HTML code. But

this was all just part of the learning curve. You have to

learn to walk before you run.

Eventually I started writing my own HTML using Microsoft

word and saving it as a simple HTML text file. To this day

all my web page’s are created using word.

Since starting my online business I have probably joined

100s of affiliate program opportunities, re-modeled my web

page over 50 times and spend more than 4 hours a day reading

and learning how to further promote my sites to make more

money. All this was done on my own with little to no

training from others.

When I started I knew nothing and now my business is getting

between 5-10 commission checks in the mail every month

generated from sales or leads coming from my 6 web sites.

I get people that say to me all the time. I cannot do that

on my own. Well if I can do it you can too. It just takes a

little patients and the will to learn. If you want to make

money online you need to act. You need to search for

information and read all about how to create your own web

site. Then you need to search for information on how to

promote, advertise, and most of all how to get good search

engine rankings.

Article 3 – Working At Home

This dismal economy has a lot of people questioning how they used to make a living.

Instead of working at home online being a thing that you might one day like to do; now you have switched into survival mode. Now if you've been looking for jobs online that let you work from home on the Internet, I'll be you haven't found anything that pays really well yet. That's because most people who work online don't have a job, they have a business. The good money is in affiliate marketing and the fastest way to make money at it is using an Internet affiliate program.

When you did have a job in the offline world you used tools and equipment for every task.

Making money online is different but you still need the right tools and equipment to get the job done. Trying to make a steady income of any size in affiliate marketing without the knowledge and tools that work efficiently isn't a smart move. Most likely you need to start earning money fast. Marketers who don't have an Internet affiliate program could spend a year or more just figuring out how this money is actually made. Do you have enough cash in the bank to carry you through the next year?

How much money do your really want to make?

Are you just trying to replace the income your weekly paycheck brought in? Did you hear anyone say yes just then? I didn't either. Everyone wants the hold the key to financial freedom. With an Internet affiliate program there won't be anyone standing between you and earning a great deal of money but you. Excuse me ... which one of you just said it is too good to be true? It is very real to cash in big online working at home on an Internet affiliate program. There is no limit to how much money you can make in affiliate marketing IF you have the right tools, knowledge and support behind you.

You don't need a college degree to earn money in affiliate marketing.

There are plenty of highly successful affiliate marketers that earn exorbitant sums of money and have no higher education. They come from all walks of life and have interests a vast as the entire globe. The one thing these super marketers have in common is using a system that works. You can join the ranks of big money affiliate marketers who work from home or where ever they choose to. All you need to do is get your Internet affiliate program and you will quickly be on the right road to financial independence.

Article 3 – How To Market Your Product on Clickbank

A lot of people have a product that they have already created and they want to know how to make money online with it. Maybe it is a recording they did of an interview or it's a video teaching something in particular...whatever it is--I am a big believer in starting out with digital products.

One of the reasons I like digital products so much is that they have pretty high profit margins and they allow you to have some success really quickly.

If your product is digital, then I would definitely encourage you to start selling it through ClickBank.com. ClickBank is a marketplace for digital products and is set up so that you can immediately begin accepting payments and making sales. You don't have to worry about trying to set up a credit card system or any of that...they do it all for you--it's awesome.

Another great thing about ClickBank is that you can instantly plug into their affiliate program and have a bunch of people out there promoting your product for you. They handle all of the administration of that too so it's really, really easy.

This is one area that a lot of people put off when they are first learning how to make money online. They think it will be too much work, and it can be if you aren't plugging into something that is already put together for you. They also worry about how much time they will spend managing it, after they have gone through the trouble to build it. Again, not a big deal if you use ClickBank's affiliate network.

Here's my take on this...don't get your business started, get your product created, and then back away at this step just because it seems like it will be too much work. You've come this far, now you want to do everything in your control to drive sales and make profits--and there is nothing like having a bunch of people selling for you. There are just thousands of affiliate marketers on ClickBank every day who are looking for products that they can promote. Why wouldn't you want them to pick yours and sell, sell, sell?

So take advantage of what ClickBank has put together. They have answered the "how to make money online" question and handed it to you on a silver platter. It is a slick system that works very, very well and literally...with the exception of creating your product for you...they have done all the work. All you have to do is plug in.

Article 4 – Afiiliate Marketer’s Tip – Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin!

Affiliate marketing is hot, easy to do, and profitable for just about anyone.

Affiliate tip #2 - Don't spread yourself too thin. If you're just beginning in affiliate marketing then find one good, solid, quality product or service to promote and test waters that way. You have to find what you're talented in or the easiest way that you find to advertise your affiliate link. You may be very comfortable with writing articles, so focus your affiliate link on those. However, you may not be Twitter-savvy so joining that may not be an option. Once you find your ideal promotion materials and strategies then you can begin adding similar affiliate products.

If your first affiliate program is about baby products then you can later expand that affiliate association to include ebooks about potty training, toddler behavior, or sitter services, things of that nature. You expand your niche a little further while still staying inside the barriers. This way your not stretching yourself too thin so the affiliate programs are not clashing, but they are complimenting one another.

Of course one of the easiest ways of combining all of these affiliate programs into one is by having your own website, especially a blog style site. This can incorporate all your affiliate links into one area. Another option is to have a squeeze page and offer a free e-book. This way it builds your email list and you can email your list with new affiliate products you're promoting, but that's another affiliate tip to be discussed later.

Don't let that fool you though, people want quality content. If you don't offer anything except "buy me" ads then your list and readership will shrink. Create your own promotional products for affiliate programs. You can do how-to videos, be interviewed on podcasts (or create your own), write articles, or contribute to forums or guest blogging somewhere. There are also many community websites out there where you can become an expert at.

Once you've gotten a hang of promotion, advertising, and affiliate programs... then is the time to explore alternative niches. By this time, your other affiliate programs may be running on automatic and you can focus on something different. Until then, do one thing at a time and give it the quality time it deserves.

Article 5- PPC Conversion Tracking

PPC conversion tracking is covered pretty comprehensively iin our top rated Clickbank product ‘Affiliate Funnel Systems.’ Here is a quick rundown of this essential concept of affiliate marketing.

If you want to seriously make money with affiliate programs, there is nothing more important you can do than tracking your PPC campaigns. It is essential you track in order to get the highest return on your investment. Without tracking you wouldn't know where your profit and where your losses are coming from. What's more, you are losing out on huge margins by not knowing which of your campaigns you need to be spending more time on.

But what's the best method to start tracking your PPC campaigns? There are 7 steps to track your PPC campaigns in order to make money with affiliate programs.

Step 1: After you do your initial keyword research, group similar themed keywords into an ad group. Then make sure you set up tracking for that ad group to follow the progress.

Step 2: Repeat this process into as many ad groups as you want. Just make sure that all your ad groups have keywords that are similarly themed.

Step 3: After a few hundred clicks, you'll find that some ad groups are profitable, some ad groups break even and some end up being huge losers.

Step 4: At this point you want to look at your losing campaigns. If you find that there are some sales but it's at an overall loss, you may want to isolate each keyword and set up tracking individually to see if which keywords are bringing in the sales. If the campaign itself is a total failure, you should take the loss and toss the campaign.

Step 5: If your campaign is at or near the break-even point, you want to go through the same process as step 4 and go a little further by trying different elements on your landing pages, ads, offers and layouts.

Step 6: If your campaign is profitable, see if you can either cut costs and make bigger margins or start paying more per click to get to a higher position and bring in more volume.

Step 7: Rinse and repeat. As you start promoting different affiliate programs or dig deeper into keyword research to expand your campaigns, just go through the same process again and again.

If you're not tracking your affiliate campaigns using the steps outline above, it'll be hard to identify profitable keywords, grow winning campaigns and cut losing campaigns. So start setting up tracking your campaigns and what your affiliate promotions soar.

Article 6 – Cloaking Your Affiliate Link – What You Need to Know

If you have been promoting affiliate products, you should know that you have to direct your visitors to your own affiliate link so that you will get the commission when the customer purchases the product. So is it really that important to cloak your affiliate link?

It is very important to cloak your affiliate link to prevent commission theft from happening. Most of the affiliate links will tend to give themselves away as the affiliate id and the merchant id will be shown. If the user changes the affiliate id to their own id, you will not be credited with the commission. When you cloak your affiliate link, it will not be that direct and your visitors will not be able to change the link easily.

There also some people who do not like the idea of the affiliates making money out of them if they purchase the product. When you cloak and shorten the link, it will give them the impression that it is your own website and they will be more willing to click on the link. Cloaking will also hide the long and ugly original affiliate links. Impression is very important in this business as visitors will only click on the links that look reliable.

When you use a software to cloak the link, your domain name will still be shown when your visitors clicks on the link. This will be good for branding as the next time they see your domain name, they will just click on it to get more information.

When you have more visitors clicking on your link, your profits will definitely increase if you are promoting relevant product to them. Do start looking around for good cloaking software so that you prevent commission theft and get more profits

Article 7 – A Three Step Plan for Processing Affiliate Rebates

There are a lot of online opportunities to make money and in fact there are so many that it is hard to know where to start. However if you analyze each opportunity carefully it will become clear very soon which business opportunities are duds and which ones are the real deal. If you follow a simple 3 step plan for vetting your business opportunities you will make the right decision every time.

In this article I want to apply the 3 step plan for analyzing online businesses to a very popular business opportunity that is sweeping the net today. When you apply this logical method to the process affiliate rebates program you will see exactly how this method works and how you can keep applying it to any venture that gets pushed your way.

The first part of the 3 step plan is very simple. You have to do your research and just a quick Google search, before you invest your money into a program you need to do thorough research. So in this example you would type in process affiliate rebates into your search engine followed by the word review, scam, or comments.

This will give you tons of information to go through and what you want to look for specifically is comments made by people who have purchased the program. This will let you know if they are having success with it or not. You need to be careful though because for every legitimate review site there are tons of fake and bogus sites that will say positive things about anything all in the hopes of having you buy through their affiliate link.

The second step in the 3 step plan is to analyze this new information and determine the potential for serious income from this opportunity. In our example research of the process affiliate rebates program did not yield great results. There were mixed reviews so what you have to go by is your understanding of the business.

This is an important lesson to learn as there are plenty of business opportunities that will have tons of negative reviews simply because the majority of failures decided that it's impossible to make money simply because they couldn't succeed.

So what we've learned so far about the process affiliate rebates opportunity is that some people are not making money but others claim to be. This is a very common predicament which leads us to the next part of the 3 step plan.

In the last step of the 3 step plan you want to focus on your overall impression of the company that wants your money. The next step is to try to contact the owners and or anyone who is promoting the program. Based on their responses you can make an educated decision about your potential success with the program.

Just remember to apply the 3 step plan to any opportunity that comes your away and you will keep your money safe and have a successful business.

Article 8 – Avoid Like the Plague! Common Affiliate Marketing Mistakes

One of the great attractions to affiliate marketing is that the marketer is simply a middle person who recommends and suggests solutions to people. The merchant or owner of the product is responsible for customer service and inventory. For example, if you want to lose weight and you go online to look for solutions and you come across my blog or an article I've written about weight loss. You read the weight loss solutions that I offer. I then suggest that you go to a website where you can purchase a product that will help your weight loss problem. Essentially, I make a commission when you buy the product because I have connected the buyer to the seller.

You don't create the product, you are just the middle person and you send people who are interested in the product to the merchants offering the solutions. This is a simplified approach to how you do affiliate marketing. As an affiliate marketer, you are mostly doing pre-selling. Pre-selling means suggesting solutions or endorsement via an informative write-up on a certain product to help a customer make a better decision.

One of the most common mistakes is the lack of focus. There are so many products to promote in affiliate marketing and naturally, you are excited, so you may take on too many things at one time, which will hurt your business. Start with one product and scale up from there. Write a simple plan for yourself and decide which market you want to target. You can't serve everyone. List down one to five markets, choose one product for each market and have one blog to do your promotions.

Don't try to hard-sell your customers. You want to present yourself as a neutral party, as their friend, and your job is to simply suggest solutions. This method will make your job a lot easier and you will also convert more sales.

Another mistake that affiliate marketers make is their failure to build a database or mailing list online. If a visitor goes to your blog and you don't capture their information, there is no way you can contact them again. It is crucial to focus on building your database, or as Internet marketers call it, list- building, if you want to have a successful Internet business. Start from day one using an opt-in form which is a way to capture people's names and emails on your blog or website.

The last mistake is not treating their affiliate marketing business as a proper business. Some people go in with the idea that they are going to "give it a try" and if they don't get results in three days, they jump to another opportunity. Every business model works. You just have to follow a proven, systematic process. When you treat it like a long-term business, you will have the ability to focus your efforts on scaling up the business. Remember, the more you put in, the more results you will get. Just like with every action, there is a reaction!

Article 9 – Affiliate Marketing Secrets – What You Need To Know

A basic principle anyone should know about making money online is the fact that you do not have to make any direct contact with customers in order to make sales. All you are required to do is to set up a website and drive high quality traffic to it using whatever means you dim fit. If your traffic (i.e. website visitors) are targeted, then you are more than guaranteed to make a reasonable amount of money day after day.

It is no doubt then, that the most interesting thing about such marketing scheme is the possibility of making profits even without any direct contact with your customers - especially if you are one of the shy ones - and with great ease. As you may already know, the process is called online (internet) or affiliate marketing.

With online marketing, marketers are able to automate the process of making money and can usually employ several traffic generating strategies such as PPC, SEO, social bookmarking, article marketing amongst a host of other. Also, with affiliate marketing, your earning capability is limitless and depends solely on you and your imagination.

To succeed online, it is necessary that you plan and organise your strategies so as to remain focused on the main goal (i.e. to make good money with as minimal work as possible). The good News is, you do not have to be a professional to be successful on the internet. In other words, with the advance in technologies these days, you do not need any special skills to get started. If you can type on you PC, then you are pretty much ready to start making money online right away.

Like I stated earlier, there are several website traffic techniques that you can use to drive customers to your sites or blogs and the choice depends on you. If you are good with website design, you may consider Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for free traffic. If you see yourself as a good writer, then write articles like this for more free traffic. Aside from these, the other free methods of traffic generation are: social bookmarking (where you bookmark your websites on as many social networks as possible), link building, email marketing (only works after you capture contact details from your website visitors) and the traditional word of mouth (telling your friends and family about your site and product.

On the other hand, if you have some money to burn, then you may want to consider Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing, with the most popular being Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and MSN. Most marketer start with AdWords because it is the easiest and most effective of them all. Also, results with PPC is almost instant, when compared with the other free methods, and you could make a sale in as little as 15 to 30 minutes from setting up you ad campaign. Watch out though, so you don't lose all your money, as PPC is a craft and requires plenty of skills.

With all that said, the need for every single visitor to be targeted cannot be overemphasized. You do not want random visits but ones that are searching for what you are selling and are ready to make a purchase once they see what they are searching for. Whatever the case may be, if your visitors comes to your site via a search engine, then there is more chance it is targeted and could lead to a sale, or whatever action you require them to take on your page, at some point.

Basically, what the whole process of making money online entails is, you select a profitable niche market (preferably one that interests you but not necessary so), pick a product with a proven success record (most marketers start with Clickbank - you should too - but there are others such as Commission Junction, PayDotCom etc.) and then set up a marketing campaign using as many traffic methods as you so desire.

The marketing process (i.e. driving traffic) is the most difficult step involved in earning good money online but if you are willing to do the necessary work, then you are guaranteed success. When you first start up, you will find everything overwhelming but as time gets on and you get a hang of it. That is, you will see that things become so much easier and you can do them a lot faster. This is when your money will start pumping in in multiples and you will begin to feel a sense of accomplishments. Making money online is just that easy, all you ought to do is be smart about it.

Article 10 – How To Make Money Online With Paypal

Here is a way you can earn money using Incentive Freebie Websites directly to your PayPal account.

First Step: Sign up at an incentive freebie website. These are websites that reward you with cash or prizes upon completing a sponsored trial offer and referring others to do the same. The business model is pretty simple. Firstly, you have the advertisers who pay the site owners of the incentive freebie websites upon completion of the trial offers. Then the site owner takes a large portion of this money to pay out users who complete offers and find referrals, and then pocket the rest for themselves.

Second Step: Complete a sponsored trial offer. Many of these sites have really decent offers such as trials with major companies such as Blockbuster, Netflix, NY Times, eBay, and so on. In other words, it is clear that we're dealing with major companies and not just scammers that you have to worry about identity theft with. This is the real deal.

Third Step: Refer others to do the same. The average incentive freebie website will reward you $40 for each referral that you bring to their site. That can really add up over time. I can tell you that there were months where I earned over $3,000 from referrals alone, and best of all it goes directly to your PayPal account.

Payments on the more legitimate and professional sites are sent daily and some of them have full support teams that offer instant support.

So where do I find these referrals?

1. The #1 place are incentive freebie website forums that you can find if you search for them on Google.

2. Family and Friends: Find 20 friends or relatives to go green for you. 20 x 30 = $600. That is a lot of money!

3. Craigslist: This site has massive traffic and postings on Craigslist are free.

4. Yahoo Answers: Yahoo Answers gets plenty of traffic, and every day there are dozens of questions about earning money online. All you have to do is answer these questions, and at the end of your answer, place a link to your thread on FreeLunchRoom. You would be surprised to know the number of referrals you might find from just answering a dozen questions on Yahoo answers.

5. Create A Blog: Websites create attention. If you post often enough, your site will gain traffic and you can gain referrals from your readers. Make the blog about earning money from IFW sites, and you will rank well in those types of searches.

6. Social Sites: Facebook, MySpace etc. get lots of traffic and posting on these sites might pay off in the long run

7. Online work at home forums: There are plenty of these forums on the internet, and they are full of people interested in earning some legitimate money online.

8. Make a Squidoo Lens explaining to users what you are doing

9. Write on HubPages.com about IFW Sites with a link to your thread on the freebie forums or your blog

10. Article Marketing: Write an article about IFW Sites and post it on EzineArticles which ranks well in Search Engine results.

11. Put up flyers around your community with a link to your trade thread explaining the basics of the system.

I can tell you that it is possible to keep up a consistent stream of referrals and earn a decent amount of money. I know of dozens of people who do this FULL time!

p.s. That's all there is to making money using PayPal

I used to make money using PayPal simply by finding referrals online. Now I actually own my own freebie site. There is unlimited potential here since there is no limit to the number of referrals that you can bring in per month - It's all based on the amount of work that you put in!

How to Be a Successful Affiliate Marketer

How to Be a Successful Affiliate Marketer

"Tell me the secret to being a successful affiliate marketer!" I get this type of email on occasion. I always dutifully read the email and send a polite reply. In the reply email I always try to stress the following points:

There are no secrets in affiliate marketing! I don't care what the guru's tell you. Being successful in affiliate marketing isn't a matter of luck, or the result of some type of magical wizardry. Being successful in affiliate marketing involves knowing the ingredients that makes other affiliate marketers successful. One of the common threads that I have observed in all successful affiliate marketers is their ATTITUDE toward their affiliate marketing business. Jim Martell, Rosalind Gardner, Jim Edwards, Allan Gardyne and many other highly successful affiliate marketers, that you may not have even heard of, all LOVE affiliate marketing. They have the passion a burning desire to be successful in their affiliate marketing endeavors.

Passion for affiliate marketing has to be the one key ingredient to achieving success, not only in affiliate marketing, but in any pursuit you undertake in life. Without a passion for your affiliate business, you are traveling down the road to failure. Your passion is what will keep you moving forward one tiny step at a time when your affiliate marketing business is going through difficult and trying times. That same passion will be the key factor in ultimately moving your affiliate marketing business toward the rewards of financial success!

Do you have this type of passion? I don't know. Only you can answer that. I do know that without belief, interest, and determination you will never develop the passion that pushes other successful affiliate marketers to extreme heights of affiliate marketing success.

Let's take a look at some of the traits that will fuel your passion to be successful in affiliate marketing:

Belief

Do you believe in the opportunity you have to be successful with affiliate marketing programs? If you don't, then you need to start right now. You MUST believe that you will be successful in your affiliate marketing efforts. How do you get this belief? Simple, do some research on affiliate marketing. You will find that many ordinary people, like you, can and are doing quite well in the world of affiliate marketing. Some people who were once in the same position you are in right now are earning thousands of dollars a month through their affiliate program marketing efforts. Don't be fooled into thinking that only the Cream of the Crop, the Super Affiliates with their names plastered all over the internet are the only ones making money with affiliate marketing. That isn't the case. Many people you have never heard of are making a very nice income from affiliate marketing; they just choose not to attract attention to themselves.

What is your goal for your affiliate marketing business? Maybe you can't answer that right now. Do your research. Set a reasonable goal for this month. Write it down. Do everything in your power to make that goal a reality. Once you've achieved that goal, move on to your next goal. You have to crawl before you can walk, walk before you can run, eventually you will be off and running. Affiliate marketing is a marathon, it isn't a sprint. Pace yourself. These frustrating days you may be experiencing now will soon be a distant memory. BELIEVE that you will be successful. It can be done. It isn't going to be easy, but then again anything worth having is going to take time and effort.

Interest

As an affiliate marketer you have to have a genuine interest in the merchant products that you are promoting to your prospects. To me, it means you should own and use these products. Why? You can give your prospects a fair and honest evaluative review of the product or service. Point out the features that make this particular product unique. Stress the benefits that your prospective customer will receive by using this product or service. The benefits that you have derived are probably some of the same benefits that your prospects are looking for. They need validation!

Think of it this way. If you have a genuine interest in the product and service you are promoting and you own and use the product for your own benefit, you have the advantage of putting yourself in the shoes of your prospective customers. You will become acutely more aware of their needs and are in a much better position to answer those needs.

You can truthfully share your interest in the product and experiences with the product. Even the most casual and curious browsers will be attracted to your product because you wrote a review or gave a testimony to a product you already own and use! Honest reviews and powerful testimonies about the benefits of a product or service are two of the most powerful tools that you have in your affiliate marketing arsenal. Use them often and use them wisely. Remember, your credibility is at stake!

Determination

Be Determined! You must set your chin and be determined to succeed in your affiliate marketing business. I am a huge College and Pro football fan. I am firmly convinced that the Pittsburgh Steelers are the world champions today because of the determination of their head coach, Bill Cowher. He willed that team to victory throughout the playoffs and the Super Bowl. He was not daunted by several previous setbacks in AFC championship games. He found new and better ways of getting the job done. Today he is a world champion.

You can do the same with your affiliate marketing business. You cannot get too high or too low in the world of affiliate marketing. Don't let a few setbacks get you down. Chalk each set back up to a lesson learned. Go back and rework your idea or plan. Find another way of approaching a problem. Find new and better ways of promoting and pre-selling your affiliate products.

When belief, interest and determination are present in your affiliate marketing business your passion for affiliate marketing and the goods and services you are promoting will shine brightly. All of your prospects will be able to see and feel your passion. Find your passion and you will have captured the most highly sought factor for your success in the world of affiliate marketing

What Are the Best Ways to Invest Today?

So what really are best ways to invest money today? Actually, there is no one right answer to this intriguing question. If there was, everybody would be doing the same thing.
The truth is, many have made small and large fortunes in just about every field of investment, whether it be real estate, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, forex trading, etc. Therefore, it is impossible to simply point to one of these ways to invest money and say, “invest here.”
First of all, the one thing you need to realize is that, no matter what field you plan on embarking in, every single successful investor thinks alike. By this, I mean they all have written out, definable goals by which they want to accomplish with their investments.
You see, most investors simply start investing with the idea in mind of getting rich. They have no set, determined number in mind, no goals for what they want to do with that money.
They just want to get rich. Obviously, this will not provide much motivation when you have to spend hours on end learning about your particular area of investing money.
The only thing that will often times keep you going is knowing what the end result you want in your investment. For instance, nobody just wants to make money to have green pieces of paper.
They want it so that they can do something with it (ex buy a new house or car, travel the world, etc). If you don’t know why you want to get rich, you will not be very motivated to achieve that goal.
Here’s what you do. Sit down and write out exactly how much money you want to make from your investments, and how long you want to take to earn that money. You might say, I want to have $100,000 in the bank by the start of next year.
Don’t stop there. Now, write out all the things you want to do with that money, whether it be to buy a new house, boat, travel and take vacations, give to your favorite charity. Do whatever will be most motivating to you.
Put those goals in an area where you can view them often. This way, every time you are feeling discouraged or that you will never achieve your goals, one simple glance at your goals will give you renewed energy.
Follow these tips, and no matter which ways to invest money you choose to embark in, you can’t help but make a ton of money. It may not happen overnight, but if you follow these tips, you will achieve your goals, no matter how lofty or unobtainable they may seem.

Looking At Making Money Online Vs a Traditional Business

Making money online vs. making money in the traditional business or employee environment is really not all that different. The bottom line when it comes to making money is doing the things that cause money to trade hands. While this can be a variety of things with an endless range, one thing always happens. Value is created and value is agreed upon then money is transferred.

Any legitimate money making opportunity is going to have common characteristics or guidelines, if you will. First of all there are simple money making systems in our economy. Corporate America uses one money making system. Small business uses another legitimate money generating system. Non-profit en devours use yet another model for producing funds to cover expenses of projects.

Inside these general systems to make money there are much more intricate subsystem that make on business more competitive than another or let one corporation command more of the market share over another. There are target markets and marketing strategies and many other ideas that separate and define each unique system for making money.

Philosophy comes into play as well. When it comes to making money and the amounts of money that can be made, philosophy plays a big part. Things like how the system handles and values customer service and the ideas the company has about innovation and bringing new products to market.

One of the things that has happened recently with regards to making money online is advent of simple systems that create win-win scenarios for both the creator of a product and the people who market or distribute that product. Making money online is a growing trend here in the U.S. to say the least.

Selling information products and self help materials along with health and wellness products seem to be the most popular if you look around the Internet. One of the reasons these products work so well to make money online using the Internet is because of the ease in shipping these products.

Whether you are starting a new job, getting a promotion within a corporation or starting a small business there will be a learning curve. This also holds true for making money online. The one thing that is worth noting though, money making opportunities online have greatly reduced the learning curve and increase the money making potential.

Essentially there are only a few things to get good at in order to make money online. Number one I think is marketing. I say this for one simple reason. If you can get good at marketing you will always find great products that you can market and receive healthy commissions on. This can serve as a way to get started.

Creating your own products or getting exclusive rights to another online product is another skill that would increase your money making capabilities. do a little research into products you can use to create a good income for yourself.

Making Money in any business is the result of doing a few things well. Traditional Business models and online business models will both generate massive amounts of money is operated correctly. The main difference in the two models seems to be the money that goes into the entrepreneurs bank account rather than operating expenses.

Most business models you will find actually combine the two ideas taking the best of both worlds. The typically online entrepreneur is not paying for expensive real estate, equipment, employees, and things of that nature. While the work at home based entrepreneur is also getting tax benefits through home based write offs like interest deductions and home office space along with utility write offs.

history jonas brothers Nick Jonas: Discovery and solo album (1999–2005) Main articles: Nick Jonas and Nicholas Jonas (album) The band started as a s

history jonas brothers

Nick Jonas: Discovery and solo album (1999–2005)
Main articles: Nick Jonas and Nicholas Jonas (album)

The band started as a solo project of Nick Jonas.[6][7][8] At the age of 7, Nicholas began performing on Broadway.[9][10] He has acted in several plays, including A Christmas Carol (in 2000 as Tiny Tim and as Scrooge at eight), Annie Get Your Gun (in 2001 as Little Jake), Beauty and the Beast (in 2002 as Chip), and Les Misérables (in 2003 as Gavroche).[10][11][12][13] After Les Misérables closed, he performed in The Sound of Music (as Kurt) at the Paper Mill Playhouse.[14]

In 2002 while performing in Beauty and the Beast, Nick had written a song with his father called "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)". With background vocals from the Beauty and the Beast cast, Nick performed the song on the 2002 annual Broadway "Equity Fights AIDS" album, Broadway's Greatest Gifts: Carols for a Cure, Vol. 4.[15][16] In November 2003, INO Records received a demo copy of "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)".[17] The label released the song to Christian radio, where it quickly became popular on Record & Radio's Christian Adult Contemporary Chart.[16] While Nick was working on his solo project, Joe followed in his footsteps to Broadway, appearing in Baz Lurhmann's production of La bohème. According to Nick, this was also the first year the brothers started writing songs together.[18]

By September 2004, an executive at Columbia Records found out about Nick's song.[15][16] Nick was soon jointly signed to INO Records and Columbia Records and released the single "Dear God".[19] A second single, a new solo recording of "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)", was released on November 16.[20] It was supposed to be followed by a December release of a self-titled solo album Nicholas Jonas, but the album had been pushed back;[21] it did, however, get a limited release.[22] Nick, along with his brothers, Kevin and Joe, had written several other songs for the album.[15]

In early 2005, Columbia Records' new president, Steve Greenberg, listened to Nick's record. While Greenberg did not like the album, he did like Nick's voice.[23] After meeting with Nick and hearing the song "Please Be Mine", written and performed by the brothers, Daylight/Columbia Records decided to sign the three as a group act.[15][24][25]

It's About Time (2005–2006)

After being signed to Columbia, the brothers considered naming their group "Sons of Jonas" before settling on the name "Jonas Brothers."[26]

Throughout 2005, the Jonas Brothers had gone on several tours, opening for various artists including, Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney, the Backstreet Boys, and The Click Five.[6][27] They spent the latter portion of the year on an anti-drug tour with Aly & AJ and The Cheetah Girls.[27][28] Additionally, they opened for The Veronicas in early 2006.[15]

For the album, titled It's About Time, the band collaborated with several writers, including Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), Michael Mangini (Joss Stone), Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), Billy Mann (Destiny's Child, Jessica Simpson) and Steve Greenberg.[28] The album was initially supposed to be released in February 2006, but was pushed back several times.[15][24][27][28] The delay was due to executive changes at Sony (the parent company of Columbia) and the executives' desire to have "another lead single" on the album. For the album, the Jonas Brothers covered two hit songs by UK band Busted - "Year 3000" and "What I Go to School For".[23]

The Jonas Brothers' first single, "Mandy", was released on December 27, 2005.[29] Its music video was shown on MTV's Total Request Live on February 22, 2006[8] and reached number four. Another song, "Time for Me to Fly," was released on the Aquamarine soundtrack, also in February.[30] In March, "Mandy" was featured in the Nickelodeon television film Zoey 101: Spring Break-Up and the Zoey 101: Music Mix soundtrack album, with Nicholas Jonas listed as the artist name.[30] The group's music was also featured on Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoon Fridays.[6][30] The band covered "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" from Pirates of the Caribbean for the DisneyMania 4 album, released on April 4, 2006.[31] Over the summer of 2006, the Jonas Brothers went on tour with Aly & AJ.[32] The Jonas Brothers also created the theme song for the second season of American Dragon Jake Long, airing from June 2006 to September 2007 on the Disney Channel.[30][33]

It's About Time was finally released on August 8, 2006.[34] According to the band's manager, it was only a "limited release" of 50,000 copies, so the album can be bid on auction sites like eBay for up to $200-$300 USD. Because Sony was not interested in further promoting the band, the Jonas Brothers then considered switching labels.

On October 3, 2006, Nick's 2004 solo single, "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)," was re-released on Joy to the World: The Ultimate Christmas Collection.[35] Also in October, the Jonas Brothers covered "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from The Little Mermaid. Along with a music video, the song was released on a two-disc special-edition release of The Little Mermaid soundtrack.[36] The second single from It's About Time was "Year 3000." The song became popular on Radio Disney, and the music video debuted on Disney Channel in January 2007.

The band was ultimately dropped by Columbia Records in early 2007.

Jonas Brothers (2007–2008)

After briefly being without a label, the Jonas Brothers signed with Hollywood Records in February 2007.[37] Around the same time, brothers began appearing in commercials for Baby Bottle Pops, singing the jingle.[38] On March 24, two additional songs on two different albums were released: "Kids of the Future" from the Meet the Robinsons soundtrack[39] (Based on Kim Wilde's "Kids in America"), and "I Wanna Be like You" from DisneyMania 5.[40]

The Jonas Brothers made their first appearance at the White House on Monday, April 9, 2007, during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll where they sang the National Anthem.[41] They returned on Wednesday June 27, 2007, during a Celebrating Women in Sports Tee Ball game on the South Lawn. They sang the National Anthem and after the game, the Jonas Brothers entertained at the picnic-reception with a selection of their hits.[42]

Their self-titled second album was released on August 7, 2007.[43] It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in its first week. Two singles with music videos were also released around this time — "Hold On" two weeks before, and "S.O.S." 4 days before the release of the album.

In August, the Jonas Brothers made several appearances on television. On August 17, they guest-starred in an episode of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana titled "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas." They also performed "We Got the Party" with Miley Cyrus in the episode, which premiered after High School Musical 2 and was viewed by 10.7 million people that night.[44] On August 24, the Jonas Brothers performed two songs at the Miss Teen USA contest.[45] The following day, the closing ceremonies of the Disney Channel Games aired, featuring a performance from the Jonas Brothers. The games were taped on April 27, 2007 in Orlando, Florida.[46] On August 26, the Jonas Brothers co-presented an award with Miley Cyrus at the Teen Choice Awards.

On November 18, 2007, they performed at the American Music Awards, performing the song "S.O.S." On November 22, the brothers appeared in the 81st annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. For their final performance of 2007, the three brothers performed their singles "Hold On" and "S.O.S." at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

The Jonas Brothers kicked off their Look Me In The Eyes Tour on January 31, 2008 in Tucson, Arizona. They performed several new songs on the tour that were slated to be on their third studio album, A Little Bit Longer.

A Little Bit Longer (2008–2009)
The Jonas Brothers performing a concert in February 2008

The Jonas Brothers' third studio album, A Little Bit Longer, was released in the United States on August 12, 2008, with CDVU+ technology, just like their second album, Jonas Brothers. On June 24, 2008, iTunes announced that it would release four songs from A Little Bit Longer, one roughly every two weeks.[47] The purchase of each of the songs applies to the cost of the entire album, which could be purchased via iTunes' Complete the Album feature after release. Each song released also featured a podcast. The schedule: June 24, 2008 for "Burnin' Up"; July 15, 2008 for "Pushin' Me Away"; July 29, 2008 for "Tonight"; and August 5, 2008 for "A Little Bit Longer." All of them have occupied the number 1 spot on iTunes for at least 3 days.

After the Look Me In The Eyes Tour ended on March 22, 2008, the Jonas Brothers announced that they would be opening up for Avril Lavigne's Best Damn Tour along with Boys Like Girls, but only on the second leg of the tour in Europe which lasted from late May to late June 2008.

While filming the film Camp Rock, the Jonas Brothers co-wrote and co-produced six songs for fellow Disney Channel star and close friend, Demi Lovato, for her upcoming album, Don't Forget.[48] Lovato retooled some of her songs to give it the Disney Signature. "I (Lovato) tend to write songs that are, I guess, a little bit more intense and less catchy, and I needed help writing catchy songs," she said, adding that the album also features a guest spot from Rooney frontman Robert Schwartzman. "So that's where they came in. I put a lot of my musical input and lyrics into these songs, and they just helped me with hooks and stuff like that."[49] "I'm more of a writer whose stuff wouldn't make it on a Disney album. It's too dark..."[50] The album was released on September 23, 2008. The brothers also helped produce Lovato's album.

A soundtrack was released for the film Camp Rock on June 17, 2008. It debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 with 188,000 copies sold in its first week.[51]

During the summer of 2008, the Jonas Brothers started their North American tour, the Burning Up Tour, promoting A Little Bit Longer and Camp Rock Soundtrack, and performing songs from previous albums as well: It's About Time and Jonas Brothers. The tour kicked off July 4, 2008, at Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto, Ontario. A Disney Digital 3D production crew filmed the two shows in Anaheim, California on July 13 and July 14[52] with Taylor Swift,[53] who sang a few singles from her self-titled album, Taylor Swift, for a theatrical film that was released in theatres as a 3D concert film on February 22, 2009.[54] On July 14, Nick Jonas announced onstage that the band had already written five songs for their fourth studio album (third with Hollywood Records).[53]

The band was featured on the July 2008 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine and became the youngest band to be on the cover of the magazine.[55]

The Jonas Brothers visited downtown Cleveland, Ohio's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before their sold-out concert on the evening of August 22, 2008, at Blossom Music Center. The band presented the suits and pants they wore on the cover artwork of A Little Bit Longer to Jim Henke, vice president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The suits are part of the Right Here, Right Now! exhibit, which includes some of today's most popular artists.[56]

In December 2008, the Jonas Brothers were nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 51st Grammy Awards.

It was recently confirmed that the Brothers will be collaborating with R&B producer Timbaland on a song called "Dumb" for his new album Shock Value 2.[57]

In an interview Chris Brown told JustJared.com that he is collaborating with The Jonas Brothers. Brown said' "I'm possibly doing something with them. If they want me on the record, I'll stay on the record, but I just wanted to write a record for those guys.

The Jonas Brothers appeared as musical guest on Saturday Night Live during the February 14th show. This was their SNL debut.[58]

Lines, Vines and Trying Times (2009–present)
Jonas Brothers performing at the Kids' Choice Awards 2009

The brothers finished recording their fourth studio album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times, they began to talk about the album in the beginning of 2009. They said on several occasions that they have been working on writing and recording songs since their Burnin' Up tour in mid-2008.[59]

On March 11, 2009, the Jonas Brothers announced that their fourth studio album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times, will be released on June 15, 2009.[60] Nick said about the title in the interview with Rolling Stone that, "Lines are something that someone feeds you, vines are the things that get in the way, and trying times, well, that's obvious." Nick Jonas told Billboard, "We're trying to learn as much as we can, continuing to grow." Kevin added, "The overall message is its the same old Jonas Brothers, in a sense, but we're adding more and more music, including different musical instruments that are going to add and build to the sound we already have." Nick also said the songs on the album are "our journal in songs, about all things we've gone through, personal experiences we get inspiration from. We've also been working on trying to use metaphors.. to kind of mask a literal thing that happens to us."[61]

The band also announced on March 11, 2009 that they will be embarking on a world tour in mid-2009.[62]

The boys then released Lines, Vines and Trying Times, before the release they released two singles Paranoid a month before and Fly With Me 7 days before. Lines, Vines and Trying Times became their second number 1 album.[63] It debuted at number-one and dropped to the second position on its second week.

On July 7, 2009, the Jonas Brothers announced that they have signed Honor Society to the record label they started with Hollywood Records.[64] A month later, "Send It On" was released on Radio Disney. The radio single was performed with Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez for Disney's Friends for Change.[65] Disney Channel will premiere the song's music video on August 14, 2009. [66]

On August 9, 2009, the Jonas Brothers hosted and performed on the 2009 Teen Choice Awards.[67].

Acting

Early work

The Jonas Brothers had made their acting debut in season 2 of the popular Disney Channel Original Series, Hannah Montana, where they guest starred on the episode "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas".

Soon after, they had collaborated with Miley Cyrus again to be in her 3D Concert Film, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, where they had been the opening act while on tour with Cyrus.

While on the Look Me in the Eyes Tour the Jonas Brothers had filmed a Disney Channel reality short series, entitled Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream, it premiered on the Disney Channel on May 16, 2008. The show, which ran until September 5, 2008, had documented their lives on their tour. It featured clips of the band rehearsing, traveling, performing, studying, and their personal life with their family and friends.

The Jonas Brothers were featured in a Disney Channel special, entitled Studio DC: Almost Live, a special half-hour variety show that features The Muppets as well as Disney Channel stars. During this time the Jonas Brothers had also appeared on the olympic-based special miniseries, Disney Channel Games for the third annual show.

2008–present
The Jonas Brothers with former Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne in 2008.

The band made their film debut in the Disney Channel Original Movie called Camp Rock where they play a band called "Connect Three". Joe Jonas plays the lead male role and lead singer "Shane Gray"; Nick Jonas plays the role of "Nate" a guitarist; and Kevin Jonas plays the role of "Jason" who is also a guitarist. The film premiered on June 20 in the USA on Disney Channel, and Canada on Family. It will air around the world throughout the summer and fall on the Disney Channel.

The Disney Book Group will publish an exclusive behind-the-scenes book from the Jonas Brothers that will share never-before-seen photos along with exclusive commentary. The book will be published in fall 2008 and will give fans a backstage glimpse at the brothers.[68][69]

A Disney Digital 3-D production crew filmed the two shows in Anaheim, California on July 13 and July 14, 2008[52] which was released in theatres as a 3D concert film on February 27, 2009.[70]

In April 2009, the Jonas Brothers finished filming the first season of their Disney Channel Original Series titled JONAS.[71] The series was created by Michael Curtis (of Phil of the Future and Friends) and Roger S.H. Schulman (Shrek) and directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Bronx is Burning). The show title was originally an acronym for "Junior Operative Networking as Spies".[72] The original pilot was about a teenage rock band (Jonas Brothers) having double lives as government-hired spies. However, after the pilot had been shot, the storyline changed and is now about a band of three brothers who have to cope with being rockstars while trying to live an ordinary life. The series premiered on May 2, 2009.[73]

After the success of Camp Rock, a sequel is in development. The Jonas Brothers will return as the band, Connect Three, and their youngest brother Frankie Jonas is also expected to star. Disney has confirmed that they are currently writing the script,[74] and will start filming some time in late spring or summer 2009.[75]

The Jonas Brothers made their big screen feature debut as the voices of the Cherubs in 2009's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. They will next appear in Walter the Farting Dog; an adaptation of the bestselling series of the same name written by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray. It will be a family film starring the four brothers.[76]

On May 29, 2009, the Jonas Brothers were involved in a television special on ABC called Un-broke: What You Need to Know About Money, where they talked about the importance of understanding the stock market.

Personal lives

The Jonases are known for their wholesome, "family-friendly" image,[77] and the brothers are all committed Evangelical Christians. Their father is a former Assembly of God pastor, and they were homeschooled by their mother. In addition, to signify their vow to abstain from premarital sex, on their left-hand ring finger they all wear purity rings. Joe has said that the rings symbolize "a promise to ourselves and to God that we'll stay pure till marriage," and Nick had stated that the rings are "just one of our ways of kind of like being different than everybody else out there."[78] They reportedly started wearing the rings when their parents, Denise and Kevin Sr., asked them if they wanted to.[79] They also reportedly abstain from alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.[80]

Russell Brand made fun of the purity rings during the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.[81] Brand held up a silver ring, claiming to have relieved one of the brothers of his virginity,[81] and said: "Well done the Jonas Brothers. Each wear a ring to say they are not going to have sex; I'd take them more seriously if they wore it around their genitals."[82] Brand later faced criticism and apologized for his comments.[82]

Philanthropy
The Jonas Brothers with the then First Lady Laura Bush during a First Bloom event in Dallas, Texas, November 2, 2008

The Jonas Brothers earned about $12 million in 2007, and have donated 10% of their earnings to their charity, Change for the Children Foundation.[83][84] Change for the Children Foundation is a foundation started by the Jonas Brothers, where contributors donate to charities and places such as "Nothing But Nets", "American Diabetes Foundation", "St. Jude Children's Research Hospital", "Children's Hospital Los Angeles", and "Summer Stars: Camp for the Performing Arts". The band stated that:

We started The Change for the Children Foundation to support programs that motivate and inspire children to face adversity with confidence, determination and a will to succeed. And we think the best people to help children are their peers -- kids helping other kids who are a little less fortunate.

Since August 6, 2008, Bayer Diabetes Care has partnered with Nick Jonas as a diabetes ambassador to promote the idea for young people to manage their diabetes, as Nick was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 13.[85] Nick testified in the U.S. Senate to promote more research funding for diabetes.[86]

What is More Important To Succeed Online: Business or Technical Skills?

What is More Important To Succeed Online: Business or Technical Skills?

The answer to this question obviously depends on how we define success. Most of the people that work on the Internet, in one way or another, could be considered online entrepreneurs, though, right? In that case, I would say that we can define success as “having a profitable website or online company.”

Who never dreamed about creating the next Google or the next TechCrunch?

Daring to dream is something that we all should do. Apart from conceptualizing our dreams, however, we also need to work hard and smart to achieve them, and that involves making sure that we have the most suitable skill set. And this leads us to the main question:

For someone that aspires to have a profitable website or online company, what is more important: business skills or technical skills?

I know that having both would be ideal, but we don’t live in an ideal world. When people get out of the school they will inevitably need to focus on either one or the other. Some people go to study Computer Science and learn to code, while others go to study Business Administration and learn entrepreneurial skills.
Technical Skills

People that pick the technical route will usually create the first version of the websites or of the software themselves, and once it takes off they will move into a managerial role and hire coders to handle the technical part. Here is a list of companies and websites where the founders had technical skills and were directly involved in the early developments:

* Google (Sergey Brin and Larry Page studied Computer Science)
* Yahoo! (Jerry Yang studied Electrical Engineering and David Filo studied Computer Engineering)
* Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg studied Computer Science)
* YouTube (Steve Chen and Chad Hurley studied Maths and Computer Science)
* Digg (Kevin Rose studied Computer Science)
* Amazon (Jeff Bezos studied Computer Science)
* Technorati (David Sifry studied Computer Science)
* Netscape (Marc Andreesen studied Computer Science)

The advantage of choosing this route is that you will be able to create the code yourself, which gives you a lot more control over the final result. Additionally, you will also not need to hire anyone early on.

The disadvantage is that the lack of business skills might compromise your coding efforts right from the start (should you pick a wrong business model or fail to lay down a marketing plan, for example).
Business Skills

People that follow the business route will usually conceptualize ideas, products and business models, and will then hire programmers and a technical staff to implement it under their supervision. Here is a list of companies and websites where the founders had a business background (they have a wide have of academic formations, but they all worked with businesses and entrepreneurial projects):

* Skype (Niklas Zennstrom studied Business Administration)
* LinkedIn (Reid Hoffman studied Symbolic Systems and Philosophy
* SalesForce (Marc Benioff studied Business Administration
* Wikipedia (Jimmy Wales studied Finance)
* Broadcast.com (Mark Cuban studied Business Administration)
* Mahalo (Jason Calacanis studied Psychology
* TechCrunch (Michael Arrington studied Law)
* Gawker Media (Nick Denton studied Journalism)

The advantage of this route is that you will have more experience to understand the market and the customer needs. The disadvantage is that you will need to rely on other people to execute your ideas, and you will be limited to their expertise and technical abilities.

10 Ways to Guarantee Your Online Success

10 Ways to Guarantee Your Online Success

A poster in a popular webmaster s discussion forum recently said that he is on-track to reach and even exceed -- seven-figures in revenues this year. That's a million dollar, folks, from a year-old website that does not even get a tremendous amount of traffic. According to the poster, the revenues are mostly from a combination of contextual advertising, affiliate programs and banner advertising. Just ads and no products!

Whether the poster is bluffing or not, the Web has truly revolutionized the way business is done. It is the most dramatic economic phenomenon of the decade. More importantly, it has opened doors to those seeking to start or grow their businesses. By creating websites, many have realized their dreams of becoming entrepreneurs; where the Web now provides either their full-time or part-time additional income. And yes, the Web has created many millionaires.

While the Web has brought fortune to some, there are many more people who can't seem to make the Web work for them. They join various programs, buy every possible business opportunities they can find, and create sites on a wide variety of topics all to no avail. All they earn is a couple of hundred a month, if at all.

So what are the ways to succeed online? Below is a list of some of ways you can ensure the success of your online business. Use and apply them to your own online businesses:

1. Give Value to Customers

Despite the Web being the "new economy," the old fashion business rule still applies: the most successful businesses are those able to create value for their customers. The website exists first and foremost to fill customers needs whether for information, a product or a service. You will only succeed if you give customers something that they want

The success of your website depends on the value that you give them. The more your site is able to make your clients lives easier or help them save money, the more your business will be valuable to them. It means not just creating an online brochure but guiding visitors how using your website can actually help them. Your site must have enough information for the visitors to make a decision and take the action you want them to take. If you are selling a product, provide a clear description of each product along with its features and benefits. If you are selling a service, the prospect must be able to get a price on the site or at least be given a phone number to call for an estimate. Your prospective customer must be able to get most of his or her questions answered on your site. Collect your client s questions and put them together in a FAQ page, or Frequently Asked Questions. This way, your visitors will get the answers to the most common questions asked on your site.

Many webmasters make the mistake of creating a website primarily to pull off the fast buck. Instead of creating a site where users could actually get value , they create useless spam pages in the hope of tricking users and search engines alike. This strategy, while it may bring short-term financial windfall to the owner, is not likely to be sustainable (search engines could punish the site and their revenue source could kick them out of their programs).

2. Focus on Win-Win Situations

The Web has shown that working alone is the fastest way to fall on your face. Search engines reward sites that are linked and recommended by quality sites. Successful online businesses enlist the help of other websites to promote their products through affiliate programs.

On the Net, you win if you are able to find ways to let others share in the wealth your innovations created.

3. Focus on Customer Service

The challenge facing every small business owner on the 'Net is how to keep customer service alive and well in a medium where personal interaction is inherently limited.

One way would be to keep your web site functional and personal. But how do you actually make a site personal, when your customers never get to see you or shake your hand, much less touch or see your product up close? Well, it all starts with your design and content, which should be based on a deep understanding of what your customers are, what they expect and why they actually need your product.

If you are selling quilts and handcrafted items, your site may be designed to have a very homey feel. Detailed text can explain the inspiration of the design of a particular quilt. If you are selling pillows made from balsam firs on the Web, your site may be designed to evoke memories of mountain forests and scents of pine trees. It is important that your overall look and feel must set the tone of your entire business. There is no need to go for the technological overkill and aim to become the trendiest site. Instead, your web site should be an integral part of your business plan.

4. Under-promise, Over-deliver

Customers love it when you deliver way more than their expectations. There is a lot of hype on the Web, particularly among the small Web entrepreneurs (ever seen one of those websites with extremely loooooong sales letters that are full of hype?). While those sites may be effective in drawing out the sales from the customers, many customers are left wanting given that their expectations were raised to the stratosphere by the sales copy. As a result, they are left with many unhappy customers. But if you underpromise to your customers (whether you are using short or long sales copy), and then beat out their expectations, customers will be pleasantly surprised and love your site all the more for it!

5. Tighten the Belt, but not the Service

Contrary to the dot-com s excessive and free-wheeling spending, you can run an Internet business on a tight ship. You don t have to hire a brassy consulting company to develop your Web strategy or to create your site (you can t afford them anyway). If you have limited resources, the key is to start small then slowly grow your way up. In fact, many online entrepreneurs launch their Web sites while keeping their daytime jobs.

Whatever your site may lack in terms of technological features, you can compensate for the quality of your service. While you may not have live customer service applications, you can answer customer queries through email quickly. Show your customers that you are willing to go the extra mile for them, even referring them to your competitors if you cannot provide their needs. Good personal service is the core that makes a company, and customers always appreciate that.

6. Design the Web Site for Your Customers

Although a well-written, well-designed Web site with great content can make a positive impression on your prospects, the design should focus around getting the visitor to take the action you want.

Think of your site as the Yellow Pages. Users checking the Yellow Pages are looking for a solution to an immediate need. Your site visitors may not have an immediate need, but he or she definitely has some interest in your site (or otherwise, the person will not click on it.) Now, notice why the Yellow Pages have remained popular with its users: it is heavy on content (the ads) but it uses minimal design. Adopting this strategy, your focus should be on improving copy and content that sell. Remember, the Web site is a means to an end -- and that end is making more sales. It's a waste of money to put up a site unless the site is designed to increase revenues or achieve some other marketing goal.

In creating your web site, your best resource is your customers. Seek the feedback of your customers and ask them if the site is working for them or not. Are they turned off by the requirement to register before using the site? Is the site confusing and hard to use? Are the graphics too slow to load? Is your search engine not flexible enough? Listen carefully to their comments, and adjust your site accordingly. See what works, and what doesn't.

If you are technically savvy, you can also establish a personalization option. Customers often want to feel like they belong in a community ­ a feature that Internet has fostered tremendously. You can allow shoppers to set up a customized page and receive recommendations and gift services from your store.

7. Team Up with the Right Partners


Try as you might, you may not be able to provide everything that your customers may want and need. You may want to be THE destination of all Web users for your topic, but it may be tough to achieve your goals if you have limited resources – limited manpower, technical capabilities, not enough writers, and too little time. As such you may want to team up with complementary websites (not direct competition) to boost your content, provide additional resources, and offer more tools for your visitors. Partnering with the right groups or individuals can help increase the exposure of your website, build its reputation in your industry, and move on to become the industry authority.

8. Focus on Creating a Brand

The most successful businesses have created strong brands for their products, such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Disney, McDonald’s, Mercedes, and others. On the Web, Google, eBay and Amazon also have built strong businesses based in part on great branding. These big businesses understand that an integral part of success is building strong brands – yet many small or home-based Web business owners feel that creating a good brand is way out of their reach. Effective online branding does not require big budgets, just an understanding of what brand attributes you are trying to build. By making every Web transaction brand-relevant and providing your customers with brand-based value, you will increase the depth and stickiness of your customer relationships.

9. Put on a Face!

Automation is the name of the game on the Web, but it does not mean that personal touches that will assure your customers that they are dealing with humans have gone out of style. In fact, customers are more likely to trust, use and patronize a Web site repeatedly if they know that they can communicate with a person easily. They want assurance that their orders will come through, their complaints will be addressed and their feedback will be heard. Many successful e-tailers are generating sales through click-and-buy (e-commerce) but a hefty percentage also comes from telephone calls after customers found the number on the websites. If your sales are done without the assistance of a live person, send out personal "thank you" emails, including a real name and phone number of their personal customer service representative so if there are any questions, they can call or email a real person!

10. Don't Predict the Future

One important lesson of the Web is that you cannot predict the future. What is hot today may be gone tomorrow. Take search engines for example: only about five years ago, Yahoo was the buzzword, then Altavista, and now Google. Who knows what will be the reigning search engine five years from now?

On the Web, it is simply hard to predict the next hot product or the next big use of an existing technology. The key is to be vigilant and flexible in the creation of your site and products. Take the long view of your business. Observe carefully if new uses of your products emerge. Get customer feedback on your site and monitor what the competition is doing. Forums and chatrooms are some of the easiest ways to check out what is happening on your industry and on the Web in general.