First off, why would you want to build content-rich websites? The short answer is “Because it keeps people on your site for a while, it makes them come back, and they tell their friends about that site.”
But why? Well, for one thing, people will stay on a content-rich site because it takes awhile to read an article or two. And if people start to realize that a certain site has good content that they like, and in particular, different content that constantly changes and is updated, then they’ll check back to see what’s new.
The worst thing in the world to have is a stagnant website that never changes. People will visit it exactly twice - the first time to check it out, and the second one to see what’s changed and when they find out it hasn’t changed, they most likely won’t come back. Ever!
A content-rich site is one that has lots of informative articles up at it, usually centered around a theme. Most sites can’t quite pull off being WikiPedia, so they specialize. Emm…just like SmoothAsia!
The articles you’ll want to have on your site should be short enough so that someone can read them in about 5 minutes. This means you want to stick to articles of 250 to 750 words, with 300 to 600 words optimal. To give you an idea, a single page in a published novel has about 300 words.
You might think it is lots of cool graphics and colors that make a site attractive to a visitor, but it’s really the content!
I’m not one of those self-claimed internet gurus, but believe me, the very best way to attract and retain an online audience is to provide content that’s useful, valuable, informative, and educational.
Not everyone is cut out to be a writer and there is nothing to be ashamed of if this happens to apply to you nor should it discourage you from producing an e-book especially if you have a good niche topic in mind. The great thing about the internet is that it connects people in need of services with those that supply those services.
There are literally thousands of competent and professional freelance writers out there that lack the marketing expertise, vision, or funding necessary to produce their own e-books. These professionals will write your entire e-book and sell you the rights to market it - for a negotiable fee. Websites like Elance.com and Sologig.com connect writers with people needing e-books and other types of web content for a fee. Just be sure to check the feedback of the provider, ask for relevant writing samples, and establish firm delivery milestones in order to best ensure timely delivery of quality content.
Even if you do decide to write the e-book yourself, sometimes it is just a good idea to have another writer look it over and edit the work so that it is more professional and concise. Prices charged by freelance providers vary considerably especially considering the vast diversity of nations from which they come. Editing services are usually less expensive but make no mistake: using a freelance writer to complete your e-book will greatly add to the cost of the project but may ultimately make you more money in the long run if the writing is exceptional and the marketing campaign effective.
If you do decide to write the e-book yourself, be sure to organize it from beginning to end to ensure the highest quality and that you actually complete it. Typical e-books range in size from 30-120 pages so bear that in mind when planning your book. It is best to avoid fluff and have a smaller e-book than one that is long-winded and filled with useless or anecdotal information. Try to include royalty-free pictures whenever possible and to help break up the endless wording. There are numerous free pictures art sites and a large number of paid sites that have millions of images to help complement and enhance your e-book (and thus boost sales).
Another great source of material can be found in Private Label Rights products (PLR). Many times, other e-book writers will sell their product at a higher price to people that want to buy the rights to use their product for their own means. When you buy the PLR rights to an e-book, you can use all of the material in that e-book and put your name on it as the author. It is always best to reposition the material by packaging it in a new way. Or, you can use the material to flush out your own e-book to be more content-rich.
Now, consider yourself. Would you like to write or outsource?
Newbie, short cut all the unnecessary struggles. I recommend Atomic Blogging
A year ago I did not know the next thing about blogging or how to make money with a blog. Like everybody reading this article, I surf the net and used email, but I literally knew nothing about the online world of blogging and affiliate marketing.
Like you, my time is limited. I have a family, and a full-time job. So I have very little time each day to devote to blogging. But it can be done. And the first step in the process is learning how to pick a domain name, sign up for web hosting, and set up your blog. All of this can be done in less than 20 minutes once you get the hang of it.
If this is new to you, trust me, it’s much easier than it may seem. So let’s get started.
Picking a domain name
The name of your site is one of the most important decisions you’ll make when setting up a blog or website. And generally, you want to consider two important factors.
The first factor is branding. You want the name to be memorable. If you are promoting an off line business, for example, a domain name that matches the name of your company is obviously critical. But even if your business is entirely online, a memorable domain name can help you build reader loyalty and trust.
The second factor to consider is keywords. Keywords are the word phrases we all type into Google, Yahoo! or other search engines to find information on the Internet. When selecting a domain name, consider what keywords are relevant to your site and include theme in the domain name. There are at least two separate SEO benefits for having a keyword rich domain name.
First, the URL of a page is one factor Google’s search engine algorithm considers when ranking pages. If your site is about mortgage loans, having those keywords in your domain name will help your site rank well for those and related keywords. Second, you will find that most sites that link to your homepage will use your site’s name as the anchor text of the link. Having links to your site that use keyword rich anchor text can mean a huge boost in the search engine rankings for your site.
Web Hosting
Having selected your domain name, you now need to get your new site hosted. There are many, many web hosting services available. And if you ask two bloggers which one is the best, you are likely to get at least three different answers. No matter what web hosting service you consider, there will be those who absolutely hate the web host, and those that love it.
Regardless of which web hosting service you choose, getting your new domain hosted is the second step. Most services can easily walk you through the process, and you can always phone technical support team.
Setting up WordPress
I use WordPress for all of my sites for several reasons. First, it’s free. Second, it is widely used and many developers have made free themes and plugins to use with WordPress. Three, search engines, particularly Google, seem to rank WordPress blogs well in the search engine rankings. And fourth, it’s easy to use.
With most web hosting services, you can install WordPress with just a couple of clicks. Once installed, there are some critical WordPress plugins that need to be installed.
The first plugin is called Google XML Sitemaps. Sitemaps tell search engines like Google and Yahoo! what pages are available on your site for crawling. They give search engines a road map to your most important content. With the Google XML Sitemap plug-in, generating a XML-compliant sitemap is a snap.
The second critical plug-in is called HeadSpace2 SEO. The functionality of HeadSpace2 could fill 10 articles. For example, you can set a single page or post to use a Word Press theme other than the one you’ve selected for your site. You can set global Meta keywords that get inserted into all of your site’s pages. You can insert your Google Analytics ID into HeadSpace2 to track your site’s traffic. I highly recommend this plug-in if you have the time to understand how to use it. If you do, you should read the HeadSpace2 plug-in page.
Related Posts is the third plug-in, which automatically inserts related posts at the end of each post. This gives your readers some additional articles related to the topic if they want to keep reading. But the plug-in also has a big SEO benefit. Internal links, that is links from one part of your site to another, are absolutely critical for SEO purposes. I’ll even go so far as to say that they are more important than back links. And the related posts plug-in ads relevant internal links to all of your posts.
And that’s it. As I said at the start, you can get to a point where you can have a new site up and running in less than twenty minutes. Good luck!
Starting an online business is not always as easy as it may sound. But, running an online business has many benefits over its offline counterpart. Firstly, and the most appealing, is you’ll most likely be working from home from your own computer, and working the hours that suit you. And secondly, you have the potential to make a lot more money than you would if you were working for someone else.
Before embarking on an online entrepreneurial quest for the perfect home-based business, it’s advisable to look at the array of online business opportunities available, and decide which would be the most suitable for you. While it’s quite conceivable, that the most profitable and legitimate type of online businesses can be operated successfully by one person, most involve a collaboration of skills and input.
For the individual, making money online is a very real prospect, but there are some important factors that should be considered before taking that first vital step.
Should you sell a service?
Unless you have a well-developed skill such as, web design, graphics design, writing or some other creative or artistic flair, you’ll have to concentrate on finding or creating a product.
In selling your services, you must first determine whether a paying market actually exists for your services. Initially, you’ll need to do some research and look at similar services being offered. A good indicator is usually when there are numerous similar services available. This would suggest a buoyant market, but it’s not always the case. A friendly yet inquisitive email sent to a few established service providers in the business you’re considering, should give you an insight.
Take a good look at the existing competition. Look at the quality of their work. Could you do it better? What prices are they charging? Could you do it cheaper? If you can effectively do either of these you’re on your way to building online wealth.
Should you sell a product?
More people than ever buy products online, but the main thing to consider is whether you want to sell a tangible product or a virtual product.
As with selling a service, you must first determine whether a market exists for your product. Look at similar products then decide whether there’s room for another player. All products will have to be sold through a website, from which an order can be taken and a payment can be processed. If you have the knowledge and necessary skills, you can easily build the website yourself. Otherwise you will have to pay a professional.
A tangible product is something that can be held in the hand, therefore it will also need to be packed and shipped. Processing orders is very time consuming, but more importantly you may have to keep inventory, which can be very expensive plus you’ll need to find storage space.
An alternative is to sell virtual products. These include downloadable e-books, videos and information products. You’ll still need a website with ordering and credit card processing facilities, but you will not need to keep any inventory and it won’t take up any space (except on your computer’s hard drive) Many successful Internet marketers use this method to maximum effect.
Selling someone else’s product
Some of the best online business opportunities are very simple to set up and run. The first of these is affiliate marketing. You simply find some existing products that are being successfully sold on the Internet, and sign up for their affiliate program. Basically, this is straight-forward process. You complete an online application form and you’re given a reference number, which you can embed into your marketing links. The host company will also track your sales and pay you commissions. All you have to do is sell their products.
Some people go overboard on affiliate programs, trying to sell anything and everything they can sign up for. It’s advisable to concentrate on a few related items such as e-books on a similar subject - when that enterprise begins to make money online, start all over again with a set of different products. With careful consideration and clever marketing, affiliate programs can be the perfect way of making money online.
Buying a business or franchise
If you’d prefer to buy a readymade business, there are many to choose from. Some established and profitable Internet businesses will gladly sell you a franchise. This will most likely be a clone of their existing business, but beware! Owning a franchise business on the Internet will prove useless unless you have territorial rights. The problem with online franchises is your limitations on what you can sell. You must sign an agreement with the franchisor, that you, the franchisee will only sell their range of products.
Online investment opportunities
Not strictly a business opportunity, but investing in real estate or stocks and shares has become big business in itself. The Internet has opened up all kinds of opportunities for investors, and it’s so easy to go online and find stock brokers willing to advise you where to put your hard-earned cash for the maximum return. The big consideration with investing is to remember that prices can fall just as quickly as they rise.
Finding the right market
Whatever service or product you decide to offer your online customers, you must first establish whether there’s a need for it. If there is, you’ll have to work on an effective strategy of getting your product in front of your prospect ahead of the competition.
It’s been proven time and again that small is big. The small or niche market has been responsible for many people making a nice profit from the Internet. It’s as well to remember, that a niche market on the internet could number well over a million potential customers. Just 5% of a market this size, each buying a product with a $10 profit margin, would return $500,000 in profits.
A few examples of niche markets might be: Holidays for singles over 40, sports and fashion wear for children 6-24 months or easy car maintenance for lady drivers.
Online Auctions
The phenomenal success of online auctions, eBay in particular, is unprecedented. Not only are the online auction companies making large profits, they give everyone an opportunity to sell something to anyone anywhere in the world. From fashion accessories to collectibles and sports equipment to memorabilia, there appears to be a market, although limited, for everything.
The key to success here is to buy wholesale and sell volume. When you’ve got to the point of making good money from online auctions, simply write a book and tell everyone else how you did it. To get started in online auctions, go to eBay, click on wholesale, buy some stock and resell individually back on eBay.
Paid Surveys
Some people might not consider clicking boxes alongside questions a valid business opportunity. But if you consider it work, and the survey companies are willing to pay you, then it must be a form of business to be considered. It’s something almost anyone can do, doesn’t require any specialist knowledge or skill and can be done from anywhere.
The downside is, it’s tedious and won’t make you a fortune. However, it’s the ideal part-time opportunity for people with a few hours to spare or to run alongside a new venture during the ‘quiet’ periods.
Enthusiasm, Commitment and Self-Discipline
Looking at the various online business opportunities and how you should evaluate them is only part of the equation for online wealth building. Working for yourself in your home-based business will require real enthusiasm, commitment and copious amounts of self-discipline. Whichever route or opportunity you consider, all will require a degree of ‘do-ability’.
Be prepared to spend long days and nights at your computer, especially in the early months, building your business and getting your products in front of likely prospects. You’ll only get out what you put in.
Accounting the costs
If you establish an online business and you’re making a full-time income, don’t forget to inform the authorities.
You’ll need to keep records of all your business transactions for accounting purposes and you’ll need to set aside a percentage of your profits to cover taxes. Microsoft’s Excel program is perfect for keeping records of this nature, but don’t forget to keep a back-up of your files, just in case. The message here is to play it straight and keep it legal.
Of all the things you should consider, when planning to start an online business, the most important is undoubtedly marketing. Marketing strategies can make or break a business.
Newbie, short cut all the unnecessary struggles. I recommend Atomic Blogging
First off, why would you want to build content-rich websites? The short answer is “Because it keeps people on your site for a while, it makes them come back, and they tell their friends about that site.” 
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