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You often hear claims of people earning “hands free, automatic income”. The good news is that this IS possible, albeit with a little work beforehand and some time spent on maintenance/updates.

The method most used is to set up content sites that target specific niches, and then serve ads on those pages. All that’s left in the equation is to drive traffic to the site.

Of course, nothing is ever really as simple as that so here’s a few tips to get you started:

1. The easiest way to run a content site is to use Wordpress, or your blog/cms platform of choice. Wordpress is a great staple because it’s very popular, has a lot of plugins and templates available, and is of course free.

Once you have decided upon your niche you only need to buy a domain name that has some of your keywords in it (or find an expired domain name), and then couple that new domain name to the host of your choice.

2. One of the most important steps is to build a list of keywords for the niche you are going to target. Luckily there are many online tools you can use for this.

Nichebot Classic (uses Wordtracker)
Google Keyword Tool
MSN Keyword Forecast (keyword counts)
MSN Keyword Tool

You can also use misspellings of keywords, and even misspellings of competitor domains:

Misspelled Keywords Tool

You can generate your own common misspellings by including run-on search terms (i.e. no spaces, such as “formulaone”), double letters, missing letters, and difficult-to-spell words.

You can find the keywords used by competitors, using Spyfu.com

And you can even find those competitors, by using Quantcast:
(look at the “audience also visits” list)

Finally, for some quick and easy traffic, you can use keywords based on the Digg.com front page (popular URLs), the Technorati top posts, Stumbleupon Buzz, etc. A site called http://www.populair.eu contains a handy list of these top sites.

3. Your next step is to write articles on each keyword, in your new wordpress blog. Some of the best types of articles to write include reviews, how-to’s, and tips. To help drive readers, you can use topics such as:

keyword+ “controversy”
keyword+ “tips” “advice” “help” “tricks”
keyword+ “scam”
keyword+ “free”

etc. For example: “Ipod Tips”, “Ipod Tricks”, “Ipod Help”, “Free Ipod”, “Ipod Secrets”, or for other subjects:

“Rich Jerk Scam”, “Rich Jerk Controversy”, “Rich Jerk Review” for a business-opportunity type site.

Your article need not be too long, it should include the main keywords in the post title, and perhaps within the post itself, but don’t overdo it. Don’t use content verbatim from other sites because google penalises duplicate content.

4. To add income streams for your articles you can simply use an appropriate template, or edit one to include ads. This saves you adding ad code to each individual post - though that option is still there.

Adsense is very popular, and easy to implement. Wordpress plugins such as:
Adsense Manager can help make it simple.

Alternately, a ready made adsense-focused theme can make it simple, such as those available at: Adsense Blog Themes

You can also edit your themes manually within wordpress to include adsense in other places. Popular areas include the head of the entire page, left-justified at the start of each post, at the foot of each post, or in the side-menus. Note that google limits the amount of ads shown on a page.

There are also other income sources you may want to pursue:

CPA networks offer to pay you on a cost-per-action basis. For example, a credit card company can pay you per application. That means no sale is needed, the visitor just has to fill in a form.

Popular CPA networks include:

http://www.Azoogleads.com
http://www.Maxbounty.com
http://www.CJ.Com (a mix of affiliate types)

There are many more, simply search Google for “CPA Network”

Kontera is a little different. It will turn relevant words on your site into paid links automatically.

Chitika can show “mini malls”, which include price information, small descriptions, etc for certain links. These can work well on some site types such as technology ones.

Clickbank primarily offers digital products such as e-books, with high payouts up to 75% per sale. A site such as CBProAds.com can show these, or you can include relevant products manually.

Finally, there are specialist blog-advertising networks such as Blogads and PayPerPost that advertise more directly to your audience. You usually need a more established blog with good traffic to benefit from these.

5. At this point, if all works well, you should be able to get *some* traffic from the search engines, just from your keywords and article content alone. Of course you’ll want to increase this.

Commenting on blogs, and arranging links with blogs, can help your seo rankings. Try commenting on sites that are currently experiencing a buzz - such as the Digg front page, stumbleupon buzz page, etc mentioned earlier in this article.

Viral traffic from sources such as a branded report, branded video, free template, free salespage/product, that you release can have an excellent effect on your traffic levels. If you can include your link in the salespage/template/website etc you give away it can spread all over the web and increase your backlinks.

You can buy traffic from Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, etc, but you have to be careful. The keyword lists you built up earlier can greatly help here. Try to focus on “long tail” keywords rather than general ones for cheaper hits. For example, don’t try and buy hits to a term such as “dogs”, try focusing with “dog grooming”, “dog grooming in ohio”, etc. The idea is to have a great number of lesser-searched terms rather than a few high-searched ones (which can be priced exhorbitantly).

Remember: backlinks to your site help with your search engine position (along with other factors), so whever possible - by writing reviews, comments, testimonials, articles etc - link from keywords not just your basic URL.

Other search engine factors are harder to influence, but in general links from authority sites (try getting links from sites with a high Page Rank or even from .edu sites etc), one-way links, the age of your site (obviously only achievable over time, unless you are lucky and find an aged site that has expired or is for sale), and the content on your site are the most important.

6. After all this is setup your site is mostly hands-free. You then have a few options:

Move directly onto creating another site in another niche.
Continue to write new content for your site.
Continue to seek out new backlinks, submit new articles, etc.
Start an e-mail list.
Create your own product to sell (such as an ebook), and get affiliates for your product.
Or even sell your site!

Technorati Tags: ad revenue, adsense blog, adsense income, adsense websites, advertising income, advertising revenue, chitika, content blogs, internet marketing, keyword research, keyword tools, kontera, make money

Tags: ad revenue, adsense blog, adsense income, adsense websites, advertising income, advertising revenue, chitika, content blogs, internet marketing, keyword research, keyword tools, kontera, make money

There’s more to life than AdSense. In fact, there are many alternatives that could be used that can deliver higher profits. While some people swear by AdSense and make a tidy living from the proceeds, there are many more who struggle to make even a few dollars.

So what do you choose?

Well… it’s just got easier

The Rubicon Project is a site that aims to automatically recommend the best ad networks for your site. In fact, it bills itself as an Advertising Optimization service.

So if you have space on your site in which to run ads, and you want to choose the most entertaining, efficient and relevant advertisers, look no further. No one has the time or inclination to search through the 300+ advertising networks by hand - let the Rubicon Project help!

The Rubicon Project

(Note: This will not make money on it’s own. Remember, adverts need visitors!)

Technorati Tags: ad networks, adsense, advertising, promotion, rubicon, rubicon project

Tags: ad networks, adsense, advertising, promotion, rubicon, rubicon project

Traffic can come from many places. Apart from your regular visitors - perhaps fans of your site, visitors from your e-mail promotions, or contributors to your forum - those folk who find you from a search query are among the best.

These are qualified, pre-screened, visitors. They have come to your site expecting to find whatever it is they are looking for. And it’s the search engines job to match these searches with quality content.

The big search engines DO want you in their listings. Honestly - they’re not trying to exclude you, heck… they need you!

To that end they all provide various tools and guidelines to (a) ensure you meet the strict quality control and (b) ensure you are found for the right terms.

Google

Currently, the #1 search engine by almost every ranking method known to man. Google’s help and advice can be found at their Webmaster Central.

This section of their site includes their webmaster tools, their comprehensive Analytics software, their Optimizer to help you rank better, and information on submitting content: such as products, books, rss feeds, local listings and more.

The aforementioned tools are also worth a thorough look. Here you’ll find the all important Sitemap area where you can specify what pages on your site are indexed, and view statistics on the search terms you are found for and more.

Yahoo

Yahoo don’t offer an all in one webmaster area like Google, but you may find these links helpful:

Add Your URL To Yahoo - unless you want a paid submission, it’s usually quicker to get crawled from a link on a already listed URL. There are, however, special areas for submitting media and mobile sites.

Site Explorer - See what pages you have listed.

Other Yahoo Links - Webmaster Guidelines, Marketing Services etc.

MSN

Despite Microsofts efforts MSN Search isn’t as popular as the other two. They do however have a useful section at their latest incarnation, Live.com

Live.Com Webmaster Tools includes validation and authentication tools, guidelines, technical support, and a webmaster forum. Typical of Microsoft this looks rather corporate and the links can be confusing, but dig around and there’s quality information there

Technorati Tags: google, google listing, google seo, google tools, internet marketing, live.com listing, live.com seo, live.com tools, msn seo, msn tools, search engine optimisation, seo, Traffic, webmaster tools, yahoo, yahoo listing, yahoo seo, yahoo tools

Tags: google, google listing, google seo, google tools, internet marketing, live.com listing, live.com seo, live.com tools, msn seo, msn tools, search engine optimisation, seo, Traffic, webmaster tools, yahoo, yahoo listing, yahoo seo, yahoo tools

Here’s a great free report you can download that lists many online utilities and resources that can help you with using video on your website.

This guide also includes a very useful list of 273 sites where you can upload your video. Thought that Youtube, Google Video, Metacafe and Veoh were the most important? Take a look at this!

Videos can be a good way to increase traffic to your site or offer, and all you need to get started is a webcam or digital camera that supports video (most do). A quick recording can impart as much information as pages of sales copy, download “The Video Resource List” and get started - absolutely free.

The Video Resource List (PDF - Right Click To Download)

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, Online Video, Video, Video Marketing, Video Salespage, Webpage Video, Website Video, Youtube

Tags: internet marketing, Online Video, Video, Video Marketing, Video Salespage, Webpage Video, Website Video, Youtube

If you want to run a successful internet-marketing business but don’t want the monetary and time investment to build a site from scratch, there is an alternative.

Buy an already working site, and capitalise on it!

The advantages are obvious. Someone else has done the hard work for you, identified a niche, bought a domain name, and built a site around it.

All kinds of sites are available, for all budgets. You’ll find content sites, game sites, web 2.0 sites, retail sites, and more.

You’ll even find unique one-off products and services.

There are a number of ways to find these sites, and quite a few pitfalls you need to avoid.

Finding A Site For Sale.

1. Try contacting the site owner of a site you are interested in directly. Sometimes, you will find “site for sale” notices on sites you come across, but these are rare. Many “for sale” notices are just on parked domains, and therefore you are only buying the domain name.

Older, less-updated sites are the obvious candidates for a purchase. Try looking through Dmoz or the Google Directory as there are many sites like this there.

Remember to ask for and verify current and historical traffic levels.

2. Look on dedicated “Business For Sale” sites. Be aware that the kinds of sites available here may be at a premium. On the plus side, if you have the capital, you will be buying an A+, professionaly developed website. These sites and truly ready-to-go and you should get a lot of help from the current owners during the transitional period when you take it over.

Some sites include:

BusinessesForSale.com
SitePoint.com
Sedo.com
WebsiteBroker.com

3. Look on eBay. A lot of people sell cheap websites here, but make sure you read “What To Avoid” below first. You can also try classified sites such as Loot and Craigslist.

4. Use the Digital Point forums. There are hundreds of websites traded here, and since these are marketing based forums they are traded on their current or projected profitability. These sites will usually contain information on the traffic, such as hits per month, google page ranking, and any directories the site is listed in. They may also contain details on the sites current income per month, if applicable.

What To Look For

1. A useful, keyword based domain name. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and find a cheap site with a premium name that is worth more than the actually website content. Sometimes it’s a good start for some strong SEO tactics, and sometimes a name will just leap out at you and generate possibilities on it’s own. One word, .com domains should be snapped up. Hyphens, numbers, and less used TLD’s should be avoided.

Of course some of the most popular domains around, like ebay.com, yahoo.com, and google.com don’t actually mean anything, so always keep potential branding possibilities in mind, too.

For example:

BUYMOTORCYCLES.com is good
BUY-A-MOTORCYCLE.info is not. There is potential, especially if it’s already receiving traffic, but in general avoid.

2. Current traffic. There are a number of ways to show the level of traffic a site has, the most common being hits per month. Proof of this is usually through the websites log, a screenshot of a popular site stats program such as “AWStats”, or a link to a third party tracker operating on the site, such as Googles Analytics or SiteMeter.

Be aware that raw hits may not mean anything, as it’s relatively easy to purchase say 10,000 hits to a site when all that site is doing to gain the traffic is appearing as a pop-under to another site, showing as a redirection from a dead site, or worse being automatically refreshed by a computer program 10,000 times.

Be especially wary of sudden jumps in traffic, such as an old site that has wavered around the 1000 hits mark and suddenly gets many multiples of that in the month or two before it’s listed for sale! The next tip might be a better indication.

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: buy a business, buy a website, buy domain, buy site, domain auction, domain sales, domain templates, expired domains, expired websites, internet marketing, purchase domain, purchase website, site auction, site sales, website auction, website sales

Tags: buy a business, buy a website, buy domain, buy site, domain auction, domain sales, domain templates, expired domains, expired websites, internet marketing, purchase domain, purchase website, site auction, site sales, website auction, website sales

I’ve just come across an amazing package that’s being sold as a “dimesale” at just $7.

This collection contains three very useful products that can help you design and market your own website, something nearly all Internet Marketers spend a great deal of their time doing.

For your small outlay you’ll get:

Web Design For Internet Business Owners:

This is an audio guide and an book focused on designing websites with a business slant. This isn’t your usual ebook since it concentrates on important factors like font selection, site navigation, color schemes and multimedia. There are tips here that can make all the difference on that important first impression! The guide comes with resale rights and PLR rights, though you cannot pass those on.

Super SEO Guidebook 2008

This is a very thorough guide to the intricacies of Search-Engine Optimisation. If you want to rank high in Google, Yahoo!, MSN and others you need to know these basics as well as the advanced the techniques. Good SEO grows with you, and by implementing some basic strategies at the start and adding others as you go along you can have an “authority” site on a subject of your choice - by following the rules. This could be the only book you would need to own…

Super SEO Guidebook even has two useful tools included: Page Rank Ninja and Web Spider.

To round this package off there are five impressive and powerful “One Time Offer” templates you can use to quickly and easily add effective money-grabbing sales to almost any site you own. Just take the template, modify as needed, and watch the money roll in.

This package is $7 and comes with all the products above as well as some special bonuses on your thank-you page after ordering. You can even promote this for commissions, and I’m sure it can be some easy sales for you

Web Design Dime Sale

Technorati Tags: business web sites, hits, internet business, internet marketing, marketing, one time offer, oto, private label rights, promotion, resale rights, search engine optimisation, search engine optimization, seo, templates, Traffic, web business, Web Design, website templates

Tags: business web sites, hits, internet business, internet marketing, marketing, one time offer, oto, private label rights, promotion, resale rights, search engine optimisation, search engine optimization, seo, templates, Traffic, web business, Web Design, website templates

Joel Comm, Bestselling Author, has released version 4 of his famous Adsense Secrets book. And, unlike earlier versions of this comprehensive guide, this newly updated 2008 release is now just $9.97 !

This book has been on the market since 2005 (costing from $77 to $97) and continuously updated since then.

In Adsense Secrets 4.0 you’ll discover all the insider tips to making the most from Google’s extremely popular and lucrative Adsense advertising program.

Learn how to build content-rich websites that people will love, yet still make you money from Adsense. Find out how to optimise your site for the highest paying clicks, how to drive traffic to your site, how to format your ads, how to use articles and scripts, read your server logs, and much more.

This 222 page guide is all about using content on your pages and placing and using the right ads for the most possible money. It even includes real, working website example and case studies!

For under $10 this is a no-brainer. Grab Adsense Secrets 4.0 today.

Adsense Secrets 4.0

Technorati Tags: adsense ads, adsense book, adsense guide, adsense secrets, adsense strategies, adsense tips, advertising, google, google adsense, internet marketing, joel comm, make money, marketing, promotion, seo, Traffic

Tags: adsense ads, adsense book, adsense guide, adsense secrets, adsense strategies, adsense tips, advertising, google, google adsense, internet marketing, joel comm, make money, marketing, promotion, seo, Traffic

Here’s a very useful tool you can use to help automatically generate content for Blogs, Websites etc.

It’s called Niche RSS Feeds Generator and it will build feeds for you from many sources, for subjects you define. Such as:

Articles Feed, News Feed, Video Feed, Podcast Feed, and the best part: Affiliate Feeds from Clickbank, Amazon and Ebay.

This means you simply define a feed and place it in your Blog with a simple feed displaying script, and you have automatic content with articles, videos and podcasts as well as with affiliate links!

A VERY cool tool, and yours for just $9.97 (that’s $10 off!)

Niche RSS Feeds Generator

Technorati Tags: affiliate program, amazon affiliate, blog, clickbank affiliate, ebay affiliate, feeds generator, niche rss feeds, rss feeds, web content, Web Design

Tags: affiliate program, amazon affiliate, blog, clickbank affiliate, ebay affiliate, feeds generator, niche rss feeds, rss feeds, web content, Web Design