4 Ways to Make Money with your Website

You are most likely aware that you can earn money through your website by selling your products and/or services via an online store. But, did you know there are ways for you to easily sell other people's products without actually having to carry their stock? And the news gets even better ... you can also earn money from allowing people to advertise on your website.

If you are starting a business, but are not sure what products to sell or if you are having problems sourcing products, this may be the solution for you. And if you already have a website, there is no reason why you can't add to that revenue by adding extra income streams.

1. Advertising on your website

You could approach businesses who have similar target audiences as you and offer them space on your website to place banners or ads, but the truth is this can be time consuming and if your business is currently not getting much traffic it may be difficult to find advertising partners.

The simplest way to add advertising to your website is through Google AdSense. The way it works is this - Google AdSense places relevant ads on your website - they match advertisements to your site's content, and you earn money whenever your visitors click on them. They even offer you different options of advertising:

AdSense for Content - the robot crawls the content of your pages and delivers ads (you can choose both text or image ads) that are relevant to your audience and your site content-ads so well-matched, in fact, that your readers will actually find them useful.

AdSense for Search - this allows you to provide Google web and site search to your visitors, and earn money by displaying Google ads on the search results pages.

Setting up AdSense on your website is very simple - all you do is sign up for a free account and you will be provided with a simple code that you (or your website designer) can add to your website. You can choose different styles, shapes, colours and sizes of ads.

You can learn more by going to:

www.google.com/adsense                

2. Selling other people's products via Affiliate Programs

Another way to earn money through your website is via affiliate programs.

An affiliate (also known as associate, partner or referral) program is simply any type of revenue sharing program where a website owner receives a portion of income for generating leads, traffic, or sales through a graphic or text link to a merchant website.

 

Merchants specify how much affiliates will be paid and under what payment terms, how sales will be tracked and when/how payments will be made.

 

The great thing is that it doesn't cost you anything to join and you earn commission simply by referring people to the merchant's website.

 

You don't need to ship any products or handle any payments. Again, all you do is place special code on your website and the rest is done automatically.

For an example of an affiliate program you can visit: www.web4business.com.au/recommendedbooks.htm

 

There are hundreds of different affiliate programs, so you can find products that complement your products/services. Check out:

http://www.web4business.com.au/ClixGalore.htm                

3. Your Own Amazon Store (aStore)

Amazon takes your affiliate/associate program to the next level by providing you a free online store with thousands of products. No programming is necessary. The aStore setup tool will guide you through the process and generate a URL to which you can link or embed in your site. All Associates have access to aStore, and there are no fees associated with building stores for your sites.

You can select product categories or individual products. Again you don't stock any items or process payments - you simply refer people to your store.

To learn more about Amazon aStore, go to:

http://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join/info6.html

4. Selling Your Own Products & Services

If you want to sell your products online, you need a shopping cart. Forget about having printable order forms or asking people to email you to place an order, because in most cases they won't. If you make it too difficult to buy your products, your visitors will go elsewhere.

You have several options:

1. Get your web developer to create a custom shopping cart for you, although this can be quite costly

2. Use existing shopping cart software (simply search for "shopping cart software" online)

3. Set up a free Paypal shopping cart - all you need to do is sign up for Paypal Business or Merchant account.

 

You may even consider setting up an affiliate/partner program, which will allow others to sell your products. The great thing about this is that you only have to pay them when they sell your products. There are some excellent websites, which allow you to easily set up an affiliate program. For more information visit the following (or simply search on "affiliate programs"

 

http://www.web4business.com.au/ClickBank.htm
http://www.web4business.com.au/ClixGalore.htm
http://www.paydotcom.com/

 

If you are spending money on developing a website, you may as well make the most of it. Affiliate/Associate Programs and Google AdSense advertising are free to join and once they are included on your website, you don't need to do anything, except promote them.

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Ivana Katz makes it easy for you to get your business online very quickly. If you're looking for a professional and affordable website designer, visit www.web4business.com.au and download a free website plan.

Dummies Guide To Facebook Marketing

Dummies Guide To Facebook Marketing

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 4 years, you would know how popular and widely used Facebook is today.

Just a few short years ago, you had to encourage all your family and friends to join this social networking website (just after others convinced you to join). Nowadays, it’s rare to find someone who hasn’t got a Facebook account.

At last count, there were over 350 million users on Facebook and this number is continuing to grow. It overtook MySpace as the number 1 social networking website on the planet last year and is just behind Google when it comes to online traffic. You are then able to understand how important Facebook marketing has become for all websites.

Read complete article

Ivana Katz

Websites 4 Small Business

FREE and Powerful Way to Promote Your Website Through Link Exchange

FREE and Powerful Way to Promote Your Website Through Link Exchange


What is a Link Exchange?


Link exchange is an extremely powerful marketing strategy whereby a website owner exchanges links and banners with websites that have similar content.


Why should I exchange links?


There are several reasons that you should exchange links with other businesses.


Results in search engines are determined by the material you have presented on your site and by other off-page factors such as how many other sites link to your website. The more links you have pointing to your site from relevant websites, the higher your site will rank.


Exchanging links will drive valuable targeted traffic to your website when visitors follow a link from your link partners.


Read complete article

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business

10 Easy Ways to Increase Sales

SiteProNews: 10 Easy Ways to Increase Sales

One of the most common questions asked by internet business owners is “How can I increase sales?” Many articles, ebooks and reports have been written on this subject and trying to absorb that information just tends to make us more confused than ever! Below are some easy, innovative ideas to increase sales that anybody can implement into their online marketing strategies.

Read full article

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 25

25. Print advertising

Writing the Copy

When it comes to print advertising, you have to get to the point—fast. Your headlines should motivate readers to want to read on to learn more about your product, price and offer. Effective headlines address a pressing customer need or desire. The reality is that people care more about themselves—and what you can do for them—than about your business. You'll get a much higher response rate when your headline quickly answers the question, "What's in it for me?"
In the body of your copy, offer an incentive for the reader to call you or come to your store. You may want to offer a discount or a free giveaway

Placing the Ad

Newspaper ads are very effective for businesses that market their products and services locally. Not only can you reach a large number of people in a specific metropolitan location, but you can also target prospects via their interests (in the sports, lifestyle and business sections, for example).
Advertising costs depend on a number of factors, including the size of the ad, where it's placed, the day it runs and so on. Call and request a media kit from the newspaper or magazine so you can determine what advertising steps you can take that will fit with your marketing budget.
Consider placing print advertisements in local publications, national publications, industry publications, target market specific publications, yellow pages, local directories, special catalogues

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
http://www.web4business.com.au/

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 24

24. Radio advertising

You may have shied away from radio advertising, thinking the cost would be well over your budget and it may very well be if you were to advertise on commercial radio stations. But have you considered community radio stations? There are hundreds of them around and the great thing is that they will reach your local market. For community radio stations in your area, visit your local yellow pages or search on the internet.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
http://www.web4business.com.au/

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 22

22. Publishing an Ezine or Newsletter

Whether you are the CEO of a multi-national corporate network or a stay-in-your-pyjamas entrepreneur, one of your primary business objectives should be to develop long-term relationships with everyone you communicate with – website visitors, prospects, customers, employees, suppliers, service providers etc. And one of the best methods of building strong relationships is through your own Ezine (electronic magazine) or Newsletter.

If you've been marketing on the Internet, then you know it may take several contacts with a prospective customer before closing a sale. What better way to make those contacts, without spamming... In addition, you can eventually make a nice income selling sponsor advertising and classified ads.

To publish an effective Ezine will take some time to develop and there are thousands of resources on the internet that will help you – simply go to your favourite search engine and type in “ezine publishing” or “ezine publishing articles”.

In the meantime, here are some tips to get you started.

(a) Give your readers quality content - not rehashed or well-worn articles that have been published hundreds of times already.

(b) Write your own articles whenever possible or hire a ghost writer to help you. Talk to your readers as you would normally talk. Be yourself and let your sense of humour and uniqueness show through in your writing.

(b) Ensure the ezine has been properly edited, you have checked your spelling, grammar and formatting. Ensure all the links are working

(c) Personalise each issue for your subscriber. If your email software allows it, include a field so that your ezine is addressed to your subscriber by their firstname.

(d) Don’t publish too many ads or too many affiliate links

(e) Ask for feedback to help you improve your ezine

(f) Stick to publishing a text ezine rather than HTML.

(g) Publish your ezine regularly and on time.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
http://www.web4business.com.au/

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 21

21. Ezine Advertising

One of the best, cheapest and most targeted way to promote your product or service is through ezines (electronic magazines). Ezine ads reach people who want what you have to offer. As Ezines are generally based on a theme or particular interest and their subscribers have requested to receive them, you can be sure that they are going to be read.

Prices for advertisements vary depending on the popularity of the ezine and the actual location of your ad. Top position ads generally cost more than those found mid-way or at the bottom. Most ezine publishers will also send solo ads (advertisements about your product/service) to their subscribers. However, this is generally more costly.

To get the most of your ad, ensure you develop a killer title or headline and that the ad is straight to the point.

The best way to get started advertising in ezines would be to contact the editors of various ezines and check their rates, publication dates and number of subscribers – go to www.ezine-dir.com or www.go-ezines.com for a comprehensive listing of ezines.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 20

20. Webrings

One of the more interesting ways to add some targeted traffic to your site is to join webrings. A webring allows visitors to surf through sites that are related in one way or another. They are free of charge to the owners, members and visitors.

Webrings deliver targeted traffic day after day and once they are set up they tend to stay set up with little further maintenance

Each webring is created and maintained by a person known as a ringmaster. This person accepts site submissions and validates that the site meets the topic of the webring. For more information visit: www.webring.org

Till next time ...
Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
http://www.web4business.com.au/

Recommended Reading

If you would like to learn more about promoting your business, check out the following books:

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 19

Articles

Writing articles is an excellent way for you to get free publicity. Getting an article published is free. The publicity you receive by having your article published in a newspaper, magazine or website can be worth thousands of dollars in equivalent advertising space. Well written articles yield better results than advertisements and earn you respect from customers, who see you as an expert in your field.

The best articles are “tips” or expert pieces. People are looking for guidance and will purchase from the experts who show them how to solve their problems.

Your article should include the following elements:

(a) The Headline

This should be attention grabbing and use power words and phrases, such as “How to …” “10 Ways that …”, “Do you want to …”

(b) Lead Paragraph

The first couple of sentences should tell your readers why they should read the whole articles. Show them the benefits they will gain or the pain that they will avoid by reading the article.

(c) Body Copy

This is where you inform the reader how to do something that will enrich their business or personal lives. Use short sentences and provide step-by-step directions that they can easily follow.

(d) Conclusion

At the end you will want to summarise the topics you covered and briefly review the main points. Since you have helped your readers they will most likely want to know more. This is your chance to make your sell by making them an offer with a call to action.

(e) Resource Box

The resource box should supply the reader with the following information:
- Your name - Company name - Contact information - Website details - How to order your product, etc

If writing an article seems too daunting for you initially, you can hire a ghost writer to do this for you – generally at a very reasonable price. If you need someone to help you with this, you may wish to check out:
www.elance.com

Once your article is written you will need to submit it to various publications on-line and off-line. For a listing of Australian printed publications, including the editor’s details, you may wish to buy “The Australian Writer’s Marketplace”, available from most bookshops.

For a listing of on-line magazines (e-zines), visit: www.ezine-dir.com. You can then contact the editor of each magazine and offer them your article.

If you don’t have a lot of time to submit your articles manually, you may wish to consider using article submission services by companies such as:

Submit Your Article – www.submityourarticle.com orThe Phantom Writers – www.thephantomwriters.com

For a small fee they will submit your article to thousands of publications.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
http://www.web4business.com.au/

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Part 13

13. Autoresponders

Email autoresponders work like a fax-on-demand system. If you send an email to an autoresponder address, you’ll get back a pre-written message. Autoresponders have come a long way in the last couple of years. Not only are you able to send HTML messages with graphics, but you can set up a whole sequence of autoresponder messages going out on any day or at any time you choose.

Once you set up your email messages, everything gets done automatically. As soon as a prospect sends an email to your autoresponder, the system keeps working over and over again, like a tireless robot making sure no prospect ever slips through the cracks. Most autoresponders systems now handle your whole mailing list, so you are not having to manually manage your prospects.

Because the vast majority of customers will not buy from you on their first visit to your website, it is extremely important that you have an automated way to follow up with them several times to entice them back. You can use autoresponders to cross-promote various products and services your business offers.

Follow these tips and you can’t go wrong:

1. Make time sensitive offers in your email follow up.

2. Build extra incentives into each follow up, until your prospect can’t resist any more. Offer free reports, free ebooks, freeware programs, mini-courses etc

3. Include a survey as part of your autoresponder sequence, so you can find out what your customers like about your messages, what they dislike and what other information they want.

Some great autoresponders include:
GetResponse
www.aweber.com

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Tip 10

10. Classified Ads

Classified ads are one of the most inexpensive ways to advertise your products or service. Unfortunately many people misuse classified ads. They try to sell a product directly from the ad.

The best way to use a classified ad is as a two step process.

1. You place a classified ad in your local newspaper/magazine. The ad should be simple and straight to the point. It should then direct readers to call a phone number of your answering machine.

2. Your customer will dial the number where they will hear a powerful sales message and at the end customers are directed to send an order to the address you give on the tape or they can leave their contact details.

An example of such classified ad would be:

“Double your mail order business’ profits. Incredible recorded message tells secrets. Call 1234 5678 24hours or visit www.yourcompany.com”

People read classified ads for a purpose. They are specifically looking for products, services and information that appeals to them.

The selection of words you use is the most important aspect of classified ad copy. You need to choose precisely but don’t skimp on words to save the cost in the ad.

The best way to prepare copy is to first write about your products/services at length. List all the major benefits and features. Choose a powerful heading that points out the most significant aspect of your product. Follow up with a few words or details and finish with a request to contact for more information.

For more information about writing effective classified ads, you may wish to download a free copy of “Classified Ads Secrets” Ebook from: http://www.web4business.com.au/ClassifiedAdSecrets.htm





Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 ways to promote your website on a shoestring budget - Tip 6

6. Email Signature

Every email you send should have an email "signature." This is text that is automatically attached to the bottom of your email message. This text can be used to publicise your business. You can include your name, business name, email address, street or postal address, website details, phone number, fax number, company slogan, description of your company and its products/services. You can set up different signatures for different purposes.

To set up your signature using Outlook Express:

Step 1: Select Tools > Options from the menu bar.

Step 2: Click "Signatures".

Step 3: Make sure that you select "Add signatures to all outgoing messages" - within the "Signature settings" section. It is up to you whether you would like your signature to appear in "replies" and "forwards"

Step 4: Click "New" (you can change the name from "Signature #1" by clicking "Rename") - within "Signature" section:

Step 5: Type in the text that you would like to appear at the end of your email messages - in "Edit signature" section:

Step 6: If you're happy with this, click "Apply" and "OK".

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 Ways to promote your business on a shoestring budget - Tip 5

5. Banner Advertising

Banners are graphics, which are linked to a website. You can create your own banner and either exchange it with someone, so that you display their banner on your site and in return they display your banner on their site. Whenever someone clicks on the banner, they are taken directly to the advertised website.

To save time, you can join a Banner Exchange programs, such as:
http://www.linkbuddies.com
http://www.showyoursite.com
http://www.yesnexus.com

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 Ways to promote your business on a shoestring budget - Tip 4

4. Link Exchanges

Find websites whose business complements yours and add their website to your links/resource page. Then contact the company and ask for a reciprocal link. For example if you are a wedding dress designer, you could contact businesses that sell wedding cakes, jewellery, flowers and also venues, celebrants etc.

By doing this your website will become a valuable resource for your visitors, as it will provide information they need. They may return to your site over and over to find more information.

On the other hand, you will have visitors coming to your website when they following a link from your link partners.

Results in search engines are determined by the material you have presented on your site and by other off-page factors such as how many other sites link to your site. The more links you have pointing to your site from relevant websites, the higher your site will rank.

If you need help with this task, you can employ the services of a Link Exchange Company. They are generally inexpensive and can save you hours of time. Some of these include:

http://www.linkexchanged.com/
http://www.powerlinks.com
http://www.links-pal.com/

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 Ways to promote your business on a shoestring budget - Tip 3

3. Search Engines & Directories

A search engine is a searchable database of websites collected by a computer program (called a crawler, robot or spider). When you enter a keyword, the search engine looks for keywords in its database, and any relevant records are displayed. Currently there are thousands of search engines and directories on the internet. Some of the main ones include:
Google - www.google.com
Altavista - www.altavista.com
Yahoo - www.yahoo.com
Excite - www.excite.com
AllSearchEngines - www.allsearchengines.com
Northern Light - www.northernlight.com
DogPile - www.dogpile.com
AllTheWeb - www.alltheweb.com
Lycos - www.lycos.com

When submitting your website to the search engines, you can either do it manually by going to the search engine website and adding your URL (website address) or you can employ the services of a Search Engine Submission company, who will do it for you.
www.submitexpress.com
www.wpromote.com
www.website-submission.com

Search engines try to list sites that contain good content, so you need keywords and phrases on your pages that best describe your service and products. For example, if you are a florist, use the words such as florist, online florist, virtual florist, wedding florist, florist in Sydney, florist on line, flowers, floral, bouquets, floral arrangements etc as many times as possible to ensure high search engine ranking. To find out what keywords your customers may be searching on ask your family and friends or go to:http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/http://www.wordtracker.com

Once you decide on the keywords, use them in
(a) Your website’s domain name
(b) The title of your page - This is displayed in the top bar of your browser window
(c) The heading of your home page
(d) The first paragraph of your home page
(e) Meta tags - Keywords, page title, description
(f) Titles of your graphics

Whilst it is important to use keywords as much as possible, it is also important you use them only if they are relevant and do not sound awkward. If you spam your keywords you may be penalised or even banned by some search engines.

If this all seems too overwhelming, you can employ the services of a Search engine optimization company, who will make your website’s content more search engine friendly to make it rank higher. www.melbourneit.com.au (for VIP treatment - advise you are our customer - partner ID 5597)www.websight.net.au
www.bmcoptimise.com.au
www.e-channel.com.au

For a comprehensive listing of search engines, go to:
http://www.web4business.com.au/ResourcesListSearchEngines.htm

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 Ways to promote your business on a shoestring budget - Tip 2

2. Leads

There are many companies who will provide leads or prospects for your business. For a fee, they will display your advertisement (similar to a classified ad) and when someone clicks on it, they will be taken to your website. The great thing about these targeted leads is that you are only paying for the people who want to know about your business and products. If you work out the cost of a lead versus regular advertising, you will no doubt come out on top. Generally the cost per lead is between $0.50 - $1.00. If on the other hand you advertise in a newspaper or a magazine and pay $200 for the advertisement from which you get 20 enquiries, the cost per lead is $10.

Check out:
http://leadfactory.com/leads/
http://www.getresponse.com
http://www.prospectshop.com.au/

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au

30 Ways to promote your business on a shoestring budget - Tip 1

You are very excited!! You have finally created your own website!! But the trouble is customers aren’t knocking on your website door. Why? What should you do?

The most probable answer is that your customers don’t know about your website.

Creating a website is like building a house. If you don’t tell your friends they won’t know you’ve built a house. Even if they do know you’ve been building it, if you don’t tell them your address they’ll never find you.

And the same goes for your website. There is no magic internet fairy who will knock on people’s door to announce your website’s arrival. The task is up to you. To get your website marketing off the ground you either need to spend time learning and doing it or spend money and get somebody else to do it.

There are hundreds of ways to promote your business. You can do it on line or off line or a combination of both. Much will depend on your budget and the time you have available. Choose as many options below as your time and budget allows. Test as many methods of marketing as you can and see what brings you best results. Website marketing is not a one off exercise. You need to constantly work on it, fine-tune it, discard methods that are not working and implement new ones.

1. Email Marketing

Your first step should be to send an email to your existing clients announcing the arrival of your website. In your message, you can even ask them to forward your email onto their friends, family and colleagues.

If you are starting a new business and don’t have any customers, send an email to people you know who may be interested in your offer.

The next step should be to send your announcement to an opt-in email list. Opt-in email lists contain people or businesses who have requested to receive information about a certain topic(s). There are many companies who can provide you with these lists. For more information visit:

www.prospectshop.com.au/email_lists.html
www.4webmarketing.biz/email.htm
www.ezemail.biz/list_power.html
www.ezemail.biz/list_consumer.html
www.webfirm.com.au/email-marketing-australia/

Under no circumstance should you EVER send unsolicited email (spam) to people you either don’t know or who have not requested to receive your information.

Next time we will look at getting leads for your business.

Ivana Katz
Websites 4 Small Business
www.web4business.com.au