I'll start out by saying I built a website with absolutely NO knowledge of how to do it. I took and idea and turned it into a website. It wasn't easy for me but after spending close to one year building my first website ImaNicePerson.com I've found that there is a lot of good information relevant to having a successful online business available if you know where to find it. The problem is finding this information in it's simplest form and then utilizing this information to increase traffic, revenue, and sustainability.
With this blog I'm going to share a lot of the information that took me months to discover. Hopefully this information will speed up your quest for obtaining income online.
If you want to have a successful blog or website you have a few basic rules you need to follow to get started. Today's blog covers the absolute basics. They are as follows:
1. Create a Theme for your site. It can be anything from "Popular cat doors" to "How to braid your hair" to "How to Build a House". Believe me...there are sites for just about anything these days.
2. Find a place to create your site. The cheapest and simplest way is to use Blogger.com. It's free and easy to use. If you want a basic blog with areas for advertising and/or affiliate marketing you can start here without any initial expense.
If you want to create your own website which does specific functions utilizing various software programs such as online polls, forums, shopping carts, blogging, etc., I recommend using iPower Web Hosting. IPowerWeb is a Web Hosting Company or a company who "rents" their server/computer space for your site. I like IPowerWeb because it's inexpensive ($80 a year or less), you usually get your domain name for free, and it offers tons of Plugins (widget type stuff) to make your site user friendly, interactive, and professional. The iPower Web Hosting
3. Build Your Site: The parts or elements of your site are all stored in your index file. The index file is like your factory building and the applications are like the working parts and machinery inside your factory which create you finished product. With IPowerweb the applications are already built into the database. All you have to do is click on them and upload them into your index file. They have several templates or sample layouts to choose from to simplify the process. Most hosting companies have some types of software included in their packages to help you build your site. There is also an unlimited supply of free software available on the internet which can handle most of the the functions you need on your site.
4. Add Content To Your Site: Once you've set up your initial layout for your site you'll need to start generating good quality content which relates to the theme of your site. You can create your own content (articles), link to other sites or blogs with content appropriate for your site, add pictures, polls, widgets, news feeds, etc. It's up to you to decide how you want to lay out your site and what you want it to do. If you're new to computer technology you need to use a hosting company with WYSIWYG capabilites. This stands for "What You See Is What You Get". In other words, WYSIWYG allows you to click on words or icons to set up your site instead of having to learn complicated code needed to set up a website (HTML or XML are a couple of examples). In future blogs we'll show you ways to get around the code problem with free software available which translates "common man" language into computer code. We may even share some of the code we learned during our first year as a website rookie.
5. Find Traffic For Your Site: This is the fun part. There are many ways to get traffic to your site. The easiest way is to spend money with the professional Search Engine Optimization companies or to advertise with major Search Engines such as Google Adwords. With ImaNicePerson.com we were not 100% sure that the idea would work so we were hesitant to spend a lot of front end $$ to get started. If you have tons of money to throw into marketing this may be a good route for you. You should be careful as there are hundreds to thousands of companies who sell Search Engine Optimization (SEO) products to "guarantee" you traffic so it's hard to determine the scammers from the pros. If you want to start out for pocket change then you can read through this blog to learn more. I'll post several articles on how to get web traffic without spending a lot of money. I started ImaNicePerson.com with $150 and I spent $100 more than I should have to get started. At some time on this blog I'll show you where I could've saved this hundy.
6. Find Ways to Monetize Your Site: You've got the layout, you've got the content, you've got the traffic; now how do you turn this hard work into money? There are several opportunities for monetizing your site. The simplest form is advertising and affiliate marketing. With these forms you put targeted ads on your site and you get paid in one of two ways. Some advertisers pay on a CPM (cost per thousand clicks) and some pay based on commission for a sale made through your link/ad. The largest and most well know CPM advertiser is Google. I'm sure you've heard of them. Google has a program called Adsense where you sign up for an account and they give you code to put on your site which enables Google to place targeted ads on your site. When visitors to your site click on these Ads you get paid a portion of the advertising expense by Google. It's free to sign up! They do have very strict Terms of Service which you need to read carefully in order to prevent being dropped by Google without notice or explanation. Affiliate Marketers represent a multitude of companies who are willing to pay a commission for sales of their products made because visitors to your site clicked on these ads and made a purchase. Some of the larger Affiliate Marketing Companies are Amazon.com, Commission Junction, and LinkShare. These companies represent a wide variety of products and services which could compliment your sites content. Commissions range from small percentages up to over $100 per sale for bigger ticket items. We made several hundred dollars right out of the chute with ImaNicePerson.com. It was nice to know our site had paid for itself before we really started figuring out what we were doing. Another way to monetize your site is to sell products which relate to your site or blog. This can be done where you promote specific products through affiliates like AmazonAffiliates who pay commission or you can buy and sell items online through dropshipping. Dropshipping occurs when a person buys your product on your site, then you purchase the product from another company at a discount to create a profit. You can find a lot of dropshippers on Ebay. The bottom line is... you can sell products, services, and advertising on your website to the entire internet community. Your market is unlimited and you "brick and mortar" expense is basically nonexistent. This is the best way to start a business for those of you who want to own your own business but don't have enough money or
time to build a large store with expensive inventory.
This blog is just the very basics of the opportunities available in creating your own website(s). We'll add many articles in the future which will simplify the process and get you on the fast track to making money on your blog or website. In the meantime, visit some of these links in this article and start working towards your goal of creating your own website! If you find a good domain name you should go ahead and figure out a domain name (website name) and purchase the name. It's only about $5-$10 per year...and it's usually free when you sign up for a year of hosting on many host companies such as iPower Web Hosting
Well do our best to provide you many useful articles and ideas on creating a profitable web business.
Remember, the key is to Have Fun in what you do and the learning and experience will come! Your comments are welcome and appreciated.
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