Made Yahoo's First Page!

Today I just noticed I got a visit to the baby alive blog that was referred by Yahoo. So I tried searching on Yahoo for "baby alive", "where to buy"...and my blog came up on the very FIRST page - at the #4 position!

On the other hand, I then tried the same thing on Google, and now today it's not even listed at all on there. (?!) What, does this actually change this drastically from day to day everyday? I could see getting different positions in the search results from day to day, but I don't know why it will be in one day and completely out the very next. I guess you just have to take what the search engines give you, since anything you get is more than what you paid for. (In my case anyway!)

John

A "Good" Mystery This Time

This was a surprise to find out today: My Baby-Alive.blogspot.com blog is back in the Google listings! At the present time, a Google search of "Baby Alive", "where to buy" lists my blog on page 3 of the results, 26th out of 909 results! (Plus, a comment that I posted about it on another more established blog appears on the FIRST page!) I don't know what that was that happened last week, being knocked off and replaced by another similarly named blog...but mine is back in the listings as it stands now. Maybe merely referring to it in THIS blog actually helped.(?)

Oh well, I'm beginning to realize there's a lot to learn in this crazy but exciting little business called Internet Marketing!

John

The Blog Experiment Is Looking Better

I guess I spoke too soon when I said my blog on Baby Alive dolls was just a waste of time. In the last week or so the traffic has really picked up, getting well over 100 hits a day often. And accordingly, the Google Adsense ads have finally begun earning a bit also. Now I already wish I had set up more blogs like that one so those earnings would have been multiplied! (I'm still a ways off that elusive $100 minimum check amount from Google.) But I can see that with a string of blogs running the Adsense ads, an actual substantial amount could be earned in that way alone. And throw in a few ClickBank or other affiliate sales here and there and things look better yet. I'd have to rate this as "interesting" to say the least! (Especially considering the fact that this can all be done at NO cost!)

The doll I listed on eBay didn't quite sell for what I had purchased it for, so that didn't turn out as well as planned. I didn't realize how plentiful they are on eBay, even though they aren't in stores, and that's what cost me. Maybe those Adsense earnings might save the deal and pick up the difference eventually. Either way, I'll chalk it up as being an educational experience. At least I've learned a thing or two more along the way by getting involved, and that's what counts.

John

My Seasonal Experiment

Since we're in the thick of the Christmas buying season, I got an idea for a blog experiment to try, good for practice if nothing else.

For weeks now, the Baby Alive doll has been the first thing my daughter mentions when she's asked what she wants for Christmas. Problem was, it was nowhere to be found by the time my wife and I started our toy shopping right after Thanksgiving day. (I ended up buying it from someone on eBay, since there are lots of them available there.) So I thought I'd set up a blog to list the places I found where you really can actually buy Baby Alive online. Since I'm not an affiliate for Amazon.com, or anything else that sells it, I didn't stand to earn anything from promoting these links...but I figured that whatever Google Adsense income this blog generated would be all profit. (It costs nothing to create the blog and see what happens.)

So far, however, it's been nothing but a waste of time. A whopping 20 cents of income to date, although it has only been up for about a week. It is getting some decent traffic though, without even being ranked on any search engines at all. All I've done is post 4 or 5 comments that included a link to my blog site wherever I found blog postings about the Baby Alive doll. And just by doing that I've been getting over 60 hits/day for the last few, which I think is pretty impressive.

What's disappointing though, is almost nobody is clicking on the Google ads. And I think I know why, but I'm not sure how to correct the problem. For one thing, the people that look at this are probably in a hurry and just want to quickly find what they're looking for. But the main problem is, the ads that are appearing often have nothing to do with Baby Alive dolls, even though I've mentioned Baby Alive over and over and over again thoughout the text. I've stumbled on several other sites that barely even mention the thing, but yet they feature Google ads that all have Baby Alive in their titles.(?!) How do they do that?! I understand that you can screen the ads that appear on your site to some extent, so maybe you can somehow specify the titles that you find acceptable? I don't know, but I'm sure I would be getting many, many more clicks if those Google ads were about the highly defined subject that my readers are interested in. I have to look into this more closely to see what I could do to get more appropriate ads to appear.

If you care to check out this little blog experiment of mine, it can be found at: www.baby-alive.blogspot.com (While it lasts, anyway...I've made it a pretty seasonal thing.)

The other mystery I've found with this blog is how it's been treated by Google itself. I submitted it to Google, and after about 3 days it already appeared in Google's listings if you searched for "Baby Alive", "where to buy". In fact, it was appearing on the 3rd page of results, at about 28th overall in the 400 or so results at the time. Pretty impressive...but then things got weird. The next day I checked the same search and found that I had been replaced in the exact place in the results by another blog of the same name, except for having "-xx" added to the end of the name. So I guess it was generated by some sort of spam blog creator of some kind, because it only linked directly to one of those multiple link websites that has no real content, just links to other websites. I even reported it to Blogger.com, and before long it was no longer appearing to be a valid URL. But my biggest question is, how did this other mystery blog not only replace me in the exact same position in the search results, but also have mine REMOVED from Google completely?!? I suppose I could pose the question to Google, but I doubt I would get much of a reply. At least Blogger took my report seriously and acted on it.

I guess the only way I'll make any money at all off of the whole Baby Alive craze is by using good old eBay itself. When I found a pretty good deal on there to buy for my daughter, I also bought an extra one for myself to turn around and sell! I just listed it the other day and then put a link to it on the Baby Alive blog, too. Already have a few bids with several more days to go. (eBay...what would I do without you?!)

John

Got My First SurveyScout Sale!

I just got my first Survey Scout sale this week, and after only just 30 visitors to my link! 3% response rate seems pretty good. And once again it's a sale made without ANY money being spent to achieve it. I imagine that it was one of the TrafficSwarm members doing their "required" surfing, and he got hooked on that sales page. (It is a pretty tempting one!) That's still the only "advertising" I've done so far, so I guess I have to give TrafficSwarm the credit. (But I'll keep the commission for myself!)

It was only about $23.00 we're talking about here, but my point is...it didn't cost me anything to earn it. Who really cares how much or little it is when it didn't cost anything to get - it's ALL profit!

There are some people who negatively write off the whole affiliate marketing idea as a waste of time and money, but I think I'm finding all the proof I need that it does work and it can be done. I just have to step things up a little so that the numbers get worth talking about...or at least able to be sent me in the first place. ClickBank doesn't send you your earnings until you've made sales to at least 5 different credit card accounts. (PayPal doesn't count though, which I just found out with this particular sale.) Oh well...still one down and four to go.

I have 3 ads running on TrafficSwarm right now: One for Survey Scout, one for FreeViral, (Which I advertise SurveyScout on), and one for this blog. That's my only advertising, other than 3 or 4 blog comments I left a link to this blog on, and now a listing on emarketingblogs.com, which requires only a link back to them on your blog. Other than that, it's free to get listed on, so you might want to check it out. I've listed this blog in their Affiliate Marketing group.

I haven't posted here much lately since I've been a little busy doing the old eBay thing. This time of year it seems like just about everything sells on there, so I've been taking advantage of it to get a few things sold that I've been meaning to. It's a great way to work up some Christmas spending money in time for the season! (Until I become a master internet marketing computer-income guru, that is!)

If you're curious and would like to check out what I'm trying to sell at any given time, my eBay user name is "digitafel". I explain how I came up with that name on my eBay "About Me" page. I've been using eBay for a few years, so I have a pretty good idea of what sells and doesn't sell, and how to write a decent description, etc. Hey, eBay is one of the most visited websites on the entire internet, so it pays to be involved in it. I even put a link to this blog on my "About Me" page for good measure. I just wonder if anyone ever looks at it. Maybe I should use StatCounter on that too, if eBay allows it!

John

"Viral" Advertising Methods

There are lots of websites that can generate free traffic for your own site, usually called "traffic exchanges". As I've mentioned in previous posts here, I haven't been very impressed with the quality of traffic they bring, though. (I guess the old saying about getting what you paid for still makes sense.)

Another way to generate traffic inexpensively or even free is viral type advertising. (Viral, referring to being able to be multiplied and spread by others, of course...nothing to do with illegal computer viruses.) I guess there are many ways to accomplish this, like writing articles, or even larger e-books that include links to your website, and uploading them to the various online article directories where other people can copy and distribute them for you. Any traffic you get as a result of those becomes totally free advertising, and it can grow and grow over time...although it would take awhile to get established.

Remember the old chain letter/pyramid scheme offers that always had a list of people to send money to, which you were supposed to add your name to after doing so? The idea was that if everyone just got a few people to do the same, eventually you'd be in position to collect a huge amount of money when you're at the top of the list. Well, I've found an advertising site that works just the same way, but the only reward is traffic for your website. And the best thing is, it's free to take part in.

Rather than go into TOO much detail to describe it, you can take a look at it yourself and see how it works. It's called FreeViral.com, and you can put your link on the list for no charge, then advertise the site itself to get more participants, etc. They seem to have the right idea because you need to look at each of the sites listed for at least 15 or 20 seconds before they give you the confirmation numbers you need to register with. So people are more or less forced to look at your website in order register. I don't know if that really means they'll look long enough to actually get interested in what they see, but since it's absolutely free to set up I figure it's worth giving a try. If it works as planned, you could possibly get a huge amount of free traffic out of it.

I'm using it to promote that Survey Scout program that teaches you how to earn up to $150/hour doing surveys online on your own computer. I used that because they have a sales page that gets right to the point as soon as you lay your eyes on it, and that's what you need for viewers who don't plan on staying long in the first place. I'll let you know how it works out. So far, the only catch seems to be that you still have to figure out a way to drive plenty of people to THAT site in order to get the process started. So far my only attempt to do that has been TrafficSwarm, and once again the traffic coming from there just isn't responding. Unlike the FreeViral site, they don't require you to stay on the pages you have to click on, so people usually seem to click on and click right back off without doing much of any reading. Because of that, I really can't honestly recommend it, even though for some unknown reason I still keep giving it another try myself. I guess I need to look into some of the other traffic exchanges and see if there's something else that works better...something that brings better quality visitors.

Until then, unfortunately, I'll probably just keep getting what I've paid for!

John

Starting To Get Ranked On Google

I just noticed that I seem to be officially listed on Google now with this blog. If I search by "computer income" and add my last name to the search, this blog appears in the top few Google results! Of course, the hard part is getting to the top of the listings without including my name, but once again, it's a start. A couple of weeks ago it didn't come up no matter what I searched by. So I guess it worked when I clicked on the link to be included in Google a couple of weeks ago. I seem to remember seeing services that will list your site with many different search engines automatically, so I should probably look into that.

So far I'm still only advertising on TrafficSwarm, although I'm not sure why. I'm just not getting anything out of it, other than those few glancing visitors it sends each day. I'm starting to conclude that maybe even FREE isn't worthwhile if all you get is visitors who just glance (if that) and disappear. Pretty soon I plan to look into some of the inexpensive ad space on other websites, or maybe even some of the lower priced pay-per-click ads on some smaller search engines. Something to get a few actual INTERESTED people to read this stuff on how to make money with your computer and the internet. Maybe they'll even click some of the AdSense ads. (Yeah, like you...if you haven't done that already, please do give them a few clicks!) :)

John

Success - My First Ever ClickBank Sale!

I just made my first ever ClickBank affiliate sale this week!

It was only a few days ago that I included a link on this blog to the ebook I was very impressed with, Honest Riches, by Holly Mann...and just like that I earned an affiliate commission from it the same week. That's pretty cool, since I really haven't even started to promote this blog much at all yet. I have a free TrafficSwarm ad running, and it brings just a few glancing visitors each day. But looking at my StatCounter data, I found out that the sale actually came as a result of a comment I posted on another blog. (At that time it was the ONLY blog comment I had posted, too!) Hmmm...seems like I should be doing more comment posting, huh?!

So far, I still have yet to spend even a penny on advertising this blog, but I've actually made a sale. It's not much, but it's a start. If nothing else it assures me that this affiliate marketing really does work. I guess until I actually received word of a sale, I always had that little doubt deep inside that made we wonder if you ever really get credited for sales that you referred, so this proves it.

The funny thing is, I never really intended to make any money directly from this blog anyway. This is more or less just to document my progress as I begin this business, so anything I earn from this is just a bonus. (The AdSense ads earnings are currently up to about $4.00 now too, with practically no promotion.) I just figured I would record my progress here until I get my main website set up, and then only occasionally add to it after that. But I'm getting so many ideas that I'm anxious to get started with now, I'm going to have to choose a few things to start out promoting and see what happens.

At the top of my list right now is an offer I stumbled on the other day called Survey Scout. The sales page is so convincing, I find myself wondering why I'm even going through all this trouble of affiliate marketing. Maybe I'd rather just quit all this and be one of the ones getting paid to fill out online surveys for companies. (At home in my pajamas, as their ad says!) This company gives their members all the details on how to get started doing just that, and they claim up to $150 per hour is realistically possible to earn. Not quit-your-job-and-buy-a-new-mansion kind of money, but definitely something worth looking into for most people.

Since this ties in well with my "Making Money With Your Computer & The Internet" theme, it seems like a great offer to feature in my upcoming website. Until that happens, I figure I'll throw an ad or two on TrafficSwarm and some other free ad sites, and maybe even buy a few inexpensive banner ads, etc., and see how it works out. They're claiming to have some affiliates seeing 15% to 30% sales conversions, so it must be a pretty hot deal right now. It's still new, too...I think it's only been around for 3 or 4 months. Hopefully it'll STAY hot for awhile and give ME a chance to get in on the fun! I certainly wouldn't mind getting in on something early for a change!

John

“Free” Services – Not Always Good or Bad

I’m always on the lookout for free things on the internet – especially ways to save on business expenses. And thanks to the nature of the internet, there’s plenty to be found.

I’ve noticed that most “experts” don’t recommend the use of the various free services available, and they’ll give you many reasons why. But the truth is, the main reason they don’t usually recommend them is that there’s no money to be made by referring you to them. They’d much rather give you their affiliate referral link to whatever they promote so they can earn a commission.

That’s to be expected - it’s just how business works. But I’m interested finding ways to save money wherever I can, and I’m sure you are too. So just be aware of this fact and realize that, because of this, you won’t see nearly as many glowing reviews of free services, even though they can often be excellent. Or they can just be a waste of time, so you need to try them to find out for yourself which ones are which.

Here’s one example of each…

StatCounter.com is a free web tracking service I’ve been trying out. This thing has so many impressive features it’s amazing, yet as of this writing it’s totally free to use. The only limit being once you start getting hundreds of thousands of hits per day, you’re then asked to upgrade to the pay version. Beginners don’t need to worry about this anyway. (I certainly don’t, for one!) So I followed the instructions and set it up on this very site to see what I might find out.

Meanwhile, another thing I’ve been trying is called TrafficSwarm.com. It’s a free advertising site that displays your ad in exchange for viewing the other ads they have listed...unless you want to pay a fee to bypass having to view ads. I suspected that most people just click on the ads to earn their credits, without paying any real attention to the web sites they’re shown...and I was right.

Thanks to StatCounter, I was able to know that after about a week on TrafficSwarm, they sent me only about 20 visitors...all of whom stayed for only 5 seconds or less! Meaning not only did VERY little traffic result from that ad, but the people who did click through to this site didn’t even take more than a glance. (If that!)

So I’m starting to think TrafficSwarm is really more like “WastedTimeSwarm”. Maybe with just the right product offer and just the right ad you could accomplish something with it, but otherwise it doesn’t look worthwhile to me. But it IS free. Even if it sent more traffic though, visitors who don’t stay for more than five seconds are worthless anyway. Oh well, at least now I know spending any money for more exposure on it wouldn’t exactly be a good idea.

“Free” products and services are usually advertisement supported in some form or another, but not always. Ads are usually what makes the whole thing possible, since most companies don’t keep websites up and running, etc., just out of the goodness of their hearts – they need to make money somewhere along the line just like everyone else. I use a free email reader called Eudora, and it’s only ads are in a small square in the lower left corner of the screen – they don’t bother me a bit. If there’s no advertising, there’s usually some other ulterior motive somewhere, if only the hope of upgrading you or selling something to you in the future.

One exception is free web hosting services. You probably do want to avoid using them for business web sites, since the ads could possibly distract your readers from your own message. (Or worse, even conflict with your message.) For personal websites though, they could work out fine if the advertising doesn’t bother you. Plus, blog sites like this one (Blogger.com) are also free to use. So in my own case, by the way...yes, I CAN afford to offer the information in this blog out of the goodness of my heart! I hope this helps you out in your own efforts to start your own computer internet marketing business!

John

Deciding What To Sell (Or Promote)

The possibilities are endless. Sometimes I feel like just closing my eyes and pointing at something to decide on exactly what I should sell to make money on the internet. It's turning out to be a lot more challenging than I expected just to decide what to promote. Plus, there's the decision of selling physical products, downloadable products, or affiliate marketing referrals. I've never been a very fast decision maker in the first place, so as you can see, I'm still working on this one!

I just read a comment I received as a result of this blog in my email. It was from Ally in Scotland. (Which I thought was pretty neat, since I'm in Delaware in the U.S.!) She just checked in to say hi and that she's just started a new internet business too. She sells health improvement products on 4u-net.com, and it made me think it's nice to see someone actually selling PRODUCTS rather than just advice or money making schemes. Good luck with that, Ally! :)

There are SO MANY people on the internet shouting (virtually) that they are incredibly wealthy and can teach you to become that way by following their instructions. I've seen many lately, needless to say, while researching this whole idea of computer income from the internet. What I find myself trying to do is figure out who are really the ones that have been around for awhile, and who are just students (or copycats!) of the true experts. It can be hard to tell because most all of them are pretty convincing in their own ways.

The money making information/business opportunity category of products is obviously one of the most profitable to promote. Maybe even THE MOST profitable. (Although, porn and gambling are right up there I'm sure...but not the kinds of things I want to build my business around.) So it's no coincidence there are so many sellers jumping on the bandwagon to become the latest "guru" and offer their own version of the rags to riches story.

But I'm wondering, do I really want to take part in this whole game too, parading as an expert and selling the same old information to people who hope to find an honest way to make some money? I've already purchased the domain name, "computer-income.com", so it seems like I'm starting down that path whether I meant to or not. Problem is, I'm not rich, (yet?!) so I can't say to learn from me because I've already made a fortune. So I'm thinking that my selling point needs to be my honesty and willingness to help others succeed in their own business...but would that be enough?

I've bought several different gurus' ebooks in the last few months, and you do start seeing the same ideas repeated. Plus, most of them encourage you to turn around and begin selling more copies of their ebook, as their affiliate. About the only one I'd be willing to do that with is called Honest Riches, by Holly Mann. She's taken the type of approach I would like to take, although she's also got the enormous income to fall back on...so I doubt I could compete against her. But hers is a great little ebook that gets right to the point on how you really can make money in affiliate marketing with your computer and the internet. And the author seems very accessible, with her own discussion forum, etc., which is a big difference from most of the others. I'm not going to make a habit of recommending other peoples' money making courses here, but I do highly recommend that one. I'll put a link to her website on this blog shortly.

So there you go, there's my first ever (good) product review! :) But after getting slightly off my intended subject...I still don't know what to sell yet! (Oh well, I'll settle on something pretty soon!)

John

Be Careful Who You Trust

It's hard to know who to believe on the internet, especially when it comes to money making advice. Everyone seems to have their own ulterior motives. (Usually being their plans to make money off of you!) I like to say there are no secrets on the internet, but sometimes it's hard to find the truth. I'm convinced it's even purposely hidden in many cases.

Example:
The WarriorForum.com forum site appears to be a good place to exchange ideas about internet marketing. It's the official forum community for the Plug-In-Profit site run by internet marketing guru, Stone Evans. That's the program I quit shortly after joining, as I mentioned in a previous post on this blog, when I realized it's just a recruiting tool to build Mr. Evans' downlines in his favorite MLM programs. It's not really just affiliate marketing help he offers by setting up free websites for anyone who wants one, which is what the sales page leads you to believe. There's a major ulterior motive.

Anyway, pretty much proving my point, he just recently changed the program to require yet another expensive program to be joined to qualify for the free website, and even asked his members' opinions of it. I noticed only a few negative responses about it, so I entered my own response to one of those and simply stated that I agreed, and listed some of the many free or cheaper options there are to choose from.

My post was deleted within minutes! (And so was the one I responded to.)

As an experiment, I immediately entered another post that simply said I think everything sounds great and that I'm excited to get started in affiliate marketing. Wouldn't you know it? It was still there last I checked! Of course, I also invited the readers to come and see this blog to follow my progress. (Sneaky, aren't I?!) I'm sure if anyone from the site comes here and reads this they'll delete that post too, but I can't do anything about that.

My point is, that forum appears to be an impartial community to discuss ideas on how to run your internet marketing business...but it's not. It's edited to make sure nobody reveals what a rip-off the Plug-In-Profit deal actually is. For totally new beginners who haven't researched much of anything else yet, it sounds like a great deal because of the "free" website they set up for you, but there's much more to it than that. (Hey, I fell for it myself!) :)

So you have to be careful who you trust, and what forums you place your trust in. The main tip-off that you should beware of someone's advice is when they start trying to SELL you anything - especially stuff that's grossly overpriced. There is SO MUCH marketing you can do that's either free or very cheap. No one needs to be joining expensive multi-level marketing deals that make you pay monthly fees or make monthly purchases in order to be a member, sales rep, affiliate - whatever you want to call it. In future posts I plan to list helpful forums as I find them that seem to be honest and impartial with their advice, but I certainly won't be recommending the Warrior Forum.

John

Starting To Make Sense

I'm finally back online after some major computer troubles. It SEEMED like a great idea to finally upgrade to Windows XP...but let's just say it didn't go very smoothly. I bought it for about half price (after a mail-in rebate) so it was a great chance to upgrade at last to the new version. (I felt like I was the last person still using Windows 98.) The last couple of computers I bought were "bare bones" generic units from computer shows, with no operating system installed. (You can really get a great new computer really cheap this way though!) But it resulted in my old version of Windows 98 being the hand-me-down to the new computer each time for the last several years.

For some reason this Windows XP upgrade just wouldn't install completely over my old version, and eventually even ruined my system to the point that it couldn't even start up anymore. I had to reinstall Windows 98 and back up ALL of my own data. (Not a small project - I probably have a few hundred eBooks I've bought in several lots that I've never even read yet!) Then I had to reformat the hard drive, install Windows 98 (again!?)...and finally install the XP upgrade. (I'm exhausted!) I've just started restoring my software and saved data, etc. It's all working smooth and sweet now though, so I GUESS it was all worth it!? Everything really seems to snap right along much quicker with XP, so it is quite an improvement. But I guess my lesson for you on this subject is...

BACK UP YOUR FILES BEFORE UPGRADING!

On a happier note, I just logged in to my Google AdSense account today, and lo and behold...I finally got my first ever click-through earnings! OK...now it was only 86 cents for 2 clicks yesterday, for the little ads at the top of this blog...but it's a start! Kind of cool considering that I haven't even begun to promote this blog site at all yet, so to get anything is pretty neat. You've got to realize...with just a little bit of exposure, that 86 cents could be every day, and after 365 days that becomes over $300 a year...for doing absolutely nothing!

I thought of the AdSense ads as a nice way to supplement your website profits, but I guess they could actually turn out to be a real income producer themselves. Imagine having about 40 websites all earning that modest 86 cents a day. Suddenly you're making over $1000 a month just from those ads! (Whether you ever actually sell anything or not!) I think that's a pretty exciting possibility, myself!

I think I'll print out those mighty .86 in earnings and maybe frame it to display as my first ever AdSense earnings. Hey, why not? People often save their first dollar earned, or their first check received, etc.

You might even say...I've finally made some SENSE here for the first time ever!

John

P.S.- Thanks to whoever it was who clicked on those Google ads of mine yesterday! :)

Using Google AdSense

Don't look now, but I'm already moving up in the world. As you can see, I've just added some Google AdSense ads to this very blogsite. (On second thought, please do look at them - and click on them too, for that matter!) This is yet another cool way to generate some income that doesn't even cost a penny to try. No wonder you see those little "Goooooogle" ads literally all over the internet!

The ads are very easily added to any website. It took mine less than 24 hours to appear after registering and getting approved. The ads themselves are automatically selected to be good matches for whatever your site's content may be. And the best part is...whenever anyone clicks on the ads on your website, you get paid! (That's just for the clicks alone - nothing even has to be sold!)

Exactly how much you get paid for them is sort of a mystery. A lot goes into the calculation, including what the advertisers paid, etc., so I'll just have to wait and see what kind of results mine get. (I'm actually not allowed to click on them myself - you have to promise not to as part of the registration process.) Anyway, I'll let you know what kind of results they bring right here in a future post.

But in the meantime...do me a small favor, would you please? Click on one of those little Google ads up there before you leave. Thanks! :)

Keeping Costs Way Down

One of the greatest things about the internet is how easy it allows you to shop around and find ways to save money. To find the best deal on whatever you're looking for. (Or find out if you're already overpaying for something.) So the costs of starting your own internet marketing business are no exception.

Especially in the early going, I plan to keep my operating costs as low as possible. The way I look at it, you don't have to sell much to be into profit if your operating costs are next to nothing. (And I know this can be done.) If nothing else, this can allow plenty of time to do some good "on-the-job training" while I figure out the ins and outs of this business.

I'll admit I got impatient a few weeks ago and fell for one of those "It's all done for you" deals, where you get a beautiful website all set up for you within 24 hours. I got tired of thinking about all the decisions I have to make just to get this business started at all. (And I'm not the type that makes decisions very quickly!) So I figured that would be a good way to get started, if nothing else.

It wasn't what I thought it would be...

Turns out that this deal required you to host the "free" website with a company that charges $24.95 per month. (Nowadays, anything over $10/month is way out of line!) Plus you had to join what amounted to two different multi-level marketing type programs, one of which cost $24.95 to join and $19.95 per month thereafter. That already brings the monthly cost up to $45 before you've even made a sale. Then the first day of instructions given with the program strongly recommended upgrading the email autoresponder service (which was supposed to be included) so that outside party ads won't be included in all your automated emails. That's good for another $17.95 per month. Now we're up to $63/month. Then there's the ad tracking service that's free for the first 90 days, only to go up to $19.95 monthly once you're locked into using it. ($83 per month?!) Then the participants are wondering in the program's own forum why they're having such trouble making any money with it. It's obvious that the famous internet guru who started it has all the odds stacked in his favor. Everyone that joins that program puts additional monthly paying members in his downline and creates residual income for him - at absolutely NO COST to him. He can't lose. It wouldn't matter if no one stayed in the program very long - there's probably a constant supply of new participants that keep it all going. It's actually a work of genius (for HIM!)...but I'd rather be on the guru's end of the deal!

There are no secrets on the internet...

With just a little bit of surfing the net, it's clear that NONE of those costs are absolutely necessary. I found cheaper or even FREE substitutes for all of those expensive services that could be used at least in the early going. That's money that stays in your pocket that could be used for advertising, etc. In fact, I've already spotted at least a couple of people who copied that marketing idea and attempted to become the guru themselves with their own "plug-in-profit" type offer, featuring less expensive services required to join. I think they've got the right idea.

I started this blog just for something to build from for my own business ideas, and the cost for this has been zero. Now THAT'S a price I can live with!

Defining The Goal

It's important to first define exactly what your goal to be achieved is before going any further and starting anything.

For my purposes here, I'd like to establish a home based business that generates income just by the use of my computer and the internet. Maybe some people would be okay with something that includes some face to face interaction with customers, or maybe by phone. But that means scheduling plenty of time to devote. I, myself, would like a business that doesn't demand much time to operate it, and doesn't dictate my own schedule for me. Naturally, I'm willing to spend SOME time operating the business, but I want to be free to work when and how much I want to at any given time. So to accomplish this, it's going to need to be automated as much as possible.

You see, I've sold items on eBay here and there for the last few years. In fact, I still sell things on eBay. I enjoy it. But with just a little success on there you begin to realize how time consuming it can be when you start listing more and more items. The description writing, picture taking, packaging and shipping, emailing customers...it all takes lots of time. So I want to improve on that and set up something that's much more automatic.

Think about it...once you set up a website, it doesn't go anywhere...it stays there 24/7. (Even while you sleep!) And there's no 7 or 10 day limit like on eBay. So once you set it up and get traffic flowing to it, your website continues to do it's selling job automatically.

But the next detail is, WHAT to sell.

To set up an automatic money making system like I have in mind, you need to either sell products that are downloadable files (like ebooks or software) or you need to promote other companies' products or services on a commission basis. Otherwise, packaging and shipping products takes time and effort. And if you reach your goal of being successful and making lots of sales - it can really tie you down. It's like the old "Be careful what you wish for" saying...you just might get it! Not necessarily that bad of a thing, but if I'm talking about the IDEAL business, I don't want to be tied down to either packaging and shipping products, or having to pay and train someone else to do it.

So to sum it all up...

I want to start an internet marketing business that sells downloadable products and/or affiliate offers so there's no shipping involved. Just income with (dare I say) very little "work". And the only work I have to do will be when and how much I choose from day to day.

That being said, seems like the best way to end today's post is by saying: Wish me luck!

My Decision To Begin

Okay, this is it. This is my first ever blog post of any kind, so bear with me...

My name is John, and I've decided to start a home business of some kind to supplement my income. I've tried some things in the past that didn't work out, so I've decided to make a fresh start and figure out what really works - and what doesn't. This blog is going to be my way of charting my progress and documenting what I learn as I go along.

I think it's obvious that starting a business of your own is a better way of going about creating additional income than just taking on a 2nd job somewhere. And a home based business seems to be the only way to go if you don't have a lot of money to invest. But of all the various types of home businesses you could get involved in, the idea of using just your computer and the internet to make money is what appeals to me the most.

We've all seen the get-rich-quick ads..."Be your own boss!", "Make money while you sleep!", "Stay home and make money in your pajamas!", etc. I know most of it's all just sales hype, but the benefits of doing business on the internet really are impressive compared to other "regular" businesses. So I'm determined to try to blast through all the sales hype and figure out what really works - and what doesn't - and start making some money on the internet doing what works. Hopefully, somebody out there will appreciate my efforts here to give you an over-my-shoulder view of what I attempt to do.

So you can relax here, knowing that this is one of the rare places on the internet that you can read information on how to make money without simply being fed a sales pitch for whatever the author is trying to sell. (So far anyway, since I don't even have anything to sell you yet! Watch out for me later though, if I go on to become the next big internet guru!)

Thanks for reading so far!