I just found out about a new, free website builder site that's really worth recommending called BlinkWeb.com. It's a free website builder that you can use online to create your own website. And it's been designed to be so easy to use that there's really no more excuse for anyone who's been wanting to build a website to continue putting it off.
BlinkWeb was created by Brad and Matt Callen, who are well known in the internet marketing world. Just Google their names and you'll see that. BlinkWeb uses a "drag and drop" kind of interface where you can choose the type of site you want to create, whether it be a blog, a sales page, or just a regular content type of website. Then you can choose from many different layouts, or templates, and start inserting the stuff you want, wherever you want it to appear on the page. And then - "Presto!" - you have a website built within minutes in whatever style you'd like.
They also have an actual mini-course right on the site on internet marketing, and creating niche information products, etc. There's probably more information and good advice there than you'd find find in so many of those get rich schemes that are always being advertised with high price tags...and yet they give all this information away for free, just to help you get started after you sign up.
But the best news is that BlinkWeb is actually totally free to use and play with all you want. And when you're satisfied with the site you've created, you can either have it hosted right there on their own servers very inexpensively, or you can download your new website as a zip file and save it to your own computer, ready to upload to your own web server.
If you're like me, you're probably wondering how they make their money though, since it's totally free to use. The answer is that they also offer very reasonably priced web hosting, and a big percentage of users will probably opt for that, since they make it so easy to do.
But even if you don't use their hosting, they still get you for a subscription fee to be able to download your completed sites, which you don't find out about until you hit the download button.
So the truth about BlinkWeb is that it's not really totally free to use, like they claim. It's free to join and use - but if you want to keep what you create with it, you do have to pay a small fee to do so. But I think that's fair - especially since you don't have to pay anything before you see what you can create with it first.
They have several different "subscription" options to chose from for downloading. As of this writing, they offer unlimited downloads by the day for only $9.95, or one month for $19.95. (That gives you plenty of time if you have a bunch of sites you want to create.) Plus, they even offer a lifetime subcription for totally unlimited site downloads, all for a single one-time fee. Then you're set to create all the sites you want!
So I think it's pretty brilliant the way it all ties together. Even casual users can now create their own professional looking websites with no help from expensive web designers; and BlinkWeb makes some money on the back end from subscriptions and the huge number of sites that are sure to be hosted right there with them.
It just launched earlier this year (2008), and they say over 27,000 sites have already been created with it - so word must be spreading pretty fast. That's what happens when somebody comes up with an idea that lots of people have been waiting to see.
So if you've been looking to do what I've been dabbling with myself, and that's create some websites to build a business around, this BlinkWeb could be a huge help to you. It's totally free to join and try out, so why not give it a whirl and see what you might be able to create?
Good luck with carving out your own little corner of the internet world!
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Pay Per Click Advertising - It's Trickier Than I Thought
Pay Per Click advertising is something I always thought was the easiest, most sure-fire way to get an avalanche of instant traffic to your websites...and always there, whenever you're ready for it. (And willing to pay a little bit for it of course, too.) So until the last couple of weeks I had never even dabbled with it at all. Since I do have a handful or so of websites put together now, I figured it's time to direct some traffic to them and see what happens. Should be a piece of cake, right?
As it turns out, there's a lot more to pay per click advertising than I realized. I had the introductory credits to use toward Google, Yahoo and MSN that you get when you open an account with BlueHost, so I figured that using those would be a good excuse to get started. I'm not used to spending ANY money on these little business experiments of mine, but you've got to start somewhere I guess!
I was pleasantly surprised that MSN only requires you to put $5 of your own money into the account to get the $30 credit added when you open it. Even I didn't mind that, being the cheapskate I am! :) Yahoo calls for more like $30, but they add another $50 to it. I haven't tried Google yet, but it's similar to Yahoo I think. And it's surprisingly quick and easy to actually open the accounts; it's all done entirely online.
Quick is the keyword, though, because before you know it they start prompting you to enter your first text ad to start with. Suddenly you find yourself thrown into the ad writing business - which is like a whole art of its own. Right on the spot I'm sitting there, trying to draw on all the ad writing tips I've ever learned to come up with an ad that makes some sort of sense.
Then, of course, they ask you to enter all of the keywords you want to have your ad matched to, and even offer you the option to write several more ads to test against each other, which I was totally unprepared for as well! :) The good news is that you can always change your ads, add more, delete some or all, or even just scrap them all and start over again anytime you want. So there's really no pressure.
It's pretty cool though. I find it to be a lot like placing regular classified ads. Except these ads go live within minutes - so you can start seeing results almost immediately. It's kind of neat how websites that have been sitting, unknown to everyone in the world other than myself, can almost instantly begin registering visitors. (And even Google AdSense clicks, which is much more exciting!)
The volume of traffic from the pay per click ads, however, hasn't been what I expected so far. (In the little bit I've tried so far, anyway.) I was expecting more, although I'm sure the popularity of your subject matter makes a huge difference, and also how much you're willing to pay per click. Pay more and your ad appears at or around the top of your competition; pay only the minimum bid amount (which is what I did) and your ad may hardly ever appear, depending on how many competing ads are out there. But the minimum is only 10 cents per click for Yahoo, and a mere 5 cents for MSN. Prices like those do give you a fair chance to make a profit, even if you don't get as many visitors.
The real challenge is...AdSense ads sometimes don't even pay that much per click. You never really know what they'll pay until they're clicked. Some ads might pay a dollar or more on the same site as other ads that only pay a few pennies, so it's hard to predict. Naturally, the idea is that hopefully in the end you receive more than you pay for all those paid visitors. But when your sites rely mostly on AdSense for revenue like the ones I've made so far, it looks like it might be tough to turn a decent profit. Add in a few affiliate sales to the mix here and there, or maybe sales of your own products, etc., and it should get easier.
So you need to bid at or near the minimum per click to give it a chance to be profitable, yet at that rate the amount of traffic you receive just isn't very impressive. I guess the answer to that still goes back to my original idea of just creating LOTS of different sites until it all starts adding up to something worthwhile.
So while pay per click advertising is a super fast way to direct some traffic to your websites...unless you're willing to pay a higher amount per visitor, there are probably better ways to create traffic. I haven't tried paid banner or text ads on other websites yet, but those might be a better choice in some cases. For now though, I'm going to continue experimenting with these pay per clicks and see what else I can learn. (And hopefully earn!)
As it turns out, there's a lot more to pay per click advertising than I realized. I had the introductory credits to use toward Google, Yahoo and MSN that you get when you open an account with BlueHost, so I figured that using those would be a good excuse to get started. I'm not used to spending ANY money on these little business experiments of mine, but you've got to start somewhere I guess!
I was pleasantly surprised that MSN only requires you to put $5 of your own money into the account to get the $30 credit added when you open it. Even I didn't mind that, being the cheapskate I am! :) Yahoo calls for more like $30, but they add another $50 to it. I haven't tried Google yet, but it's similar to Yahoo I think. And it's surprisingly quick and easy to actually open the accounts; it's all done entirely online.
Quick is the keyword, though, because before you know it they start prompting you to enter your first text ad to start with. Suddenly you find yourself thrown into the ad writing business - which is like a whole art of its own. Right on the spot I'm sitting there, trying to draw on all the ad writing tips I've ever learned to come up with an ad that makes some sort of sense.
Then, of course, they ask you to enter all of the keywords you want to have your ad matched to, and even offer you the option to write several more ads to test against each other, which I was totally unprepared for as well! :) The good news is that you can always change your ads, add more, delete some or all, or even just scrap them all and start over again anytime you want. So there's really no pressure.
It's pretty cool though. I find it to be a lot like placing regular classified ads. Except these ads go live within minutes - so you can start seeing results almost immediately. It's kind of neat how websites that have been sitting, unknown to everyone in the world other than myself, can almost instantly begin registering visitors. (And even Google AdSense clicks, which is much more exciting!)
The volume of traffic from the pay per click ads, however, hasn't been what I expected so far. (In the little bit I've tried so far, anyway.) I was expecting more, although I'm sure the popularity of your subject matter makes a huge difference, and also how much you're willing to pay per click. Pay more and your ad appears at or around the top of your competition; pay only the minimum bid amount (which is what I did) and your ad may hardly ever appear, depending on how many competing ads are out there. But the minimum is only 10 cents per click for Yahoo, and a mere 5 cents for MSN. Prices like those do give you a fair chance to make a profit, even if you don't get as many visitors.
The real challenge is...AdSense ads sometimes don't even pay that much per click. You never really know what they'll pay until they're clicked. Some ads might pay a dollar or more on the same site as other ads that only pay a few pennies, so it's hard to predict. Naturally, the idea is that hopefully in the end you receive more than you pay for all those paid visitors. But when your sites rely mostly on AdSense for revenue like the ones I've made so far, it looks like it might be tough to turn a decent profit. Add in a few affiliate sales to the mix here and there, or maybe sales of your own products, etc., and it should get easier.
So you need to bid at or near the minimum per click to give it a chance to be profitable, yet at that rate the amount of traffic you receive just isn't very impressive. I guess the answer to that still goes back to my original idea of just creating LOTS of different sites until it all starts adding up to something worthwhile.
So while pay per click advertising is a super fast way to direct some traffic to your websites...unless you're willing to pay a higher amount per visitor, there are probably better ways to create traffic. I haven't tried paid banner or text ads on other websites yet, but those might be a better choice in some cases. For now though, I'm going to continue experimenting with these pay per clicks and see what else I can learn. (And hopefully earn!)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Free Online Press Releases
I just found a great website that allows you to post press releases online, totally free of charge. It's a great way to promote new websites as you create them, which I plan to do, or whatever new products you might be marketing, etc.
You can find it here at: Free-Press-Release.com
There are many other similar websites that charge varying amounts for allowing you to post press releases, but this one really does offer totally free listings. Of course, they also give you the option to pay for a premier version which includes greater promotion, etc., but that's only an option that they make available if you choose to use it. Check it out!
You can find it here at: Free-Press-Release.com
There are many other similar websites that charge varying amounts for allowing you to post press releases, but this one really does offer totally free listings. Of course, they also give you the option to pay for a premier version which includes greater promotion, etc., but that's only an option that they make available if you choose to use it. Check it out!
Friday, March 28, 2008
I've Been Busy Lately!
I haven't posted here in about a month - wow how time flies when you're having fun. (And when you've been busy!)
I've been quite busy lately, working on what I've settled on as my decision on what to apply myself to, as far as money making endeavors.
Looking through my (mostly junk) emails I came across something about a case study on someone's success at creating profitable websites. It's like, yeah, what else is new? But in this case it was impressive enough sounding that I ended up reading it and even studying it, trying to get the main idea of what has worked for the person who wrote the article.
Without actually promoting it for the guy, I'll just describe it as a software program that "creates" websites in a mostly automated way. Not fully, but mostly anyway. And the main idea I took from this article was that the key to the author's success was not so much that he did everything right, but that he did lots of what he did find to work.
More specifically, he created not just a few, but several hundred websites that consistently made at least small amounts of money each day. The result, in his case, was supposedly a consistent $15,000+ monthly income after only about six months of work. (Yes, I'd say that's something worth looking into, wouldn't you?!)
Needless to say, about the only way you could pull this off is to use something that does, in fact, automate the whole web site creation process so that it enables you to create lots of websites fairly quickly. And true to my usual form, I didn't just take this guy's word on what is the best program to use to accomplish this, but instead started searching a bit on my own for something I could use myself to get similar results.
And guess what? I found something else that I think is even much better than what that person was promoting. The one I found actually creates streaming video sites on whatever subject you choose, rather than just collections of free articles from around the web. And I think most people find streaming videos about the subjects they're interested in more exciting that just rehashed articles that can be found all over the place already.
So just finding this motivated me to finally open a web hosting account with BlueHost, which is the one that is highly recommended by Holly Mann, who uses the service for her own sites. After doing a lot of research on different web hosting companies, I decided that this was a good one to choose because not only are they one of the least expensive services for what they offer, (as low as $6.95 per month), but they also allow an unlimited number of subdomains for any domain names you host through them. And since I plan on creating a lot of websites here very shortly, this is important. Plus, an added bonus is that your first domain name is on them - it's free of annual fees for as long as you keep your account, which is nice.
I've been quite busy lately, working on what I've settled on as my decision on what to apply myself to, as far as money making endeavors.
Looking through my (mostly junk) emails I came across something about a case study on someone's success at creating profitable websites. It's like, yeah, what else is new? But in this case it was impressive enough sounding that I ended up reading it and even studying it, trying to get the main idea of what has worked for the person who wrote the article.
Without actually promoting it for the guy, I'll just describe it as a software program that "creates" websites in a mostly automated way. Not fully, but mostly anyway. And the main idea I took from this article was that the key to the author's success was not so much that he did everything right, but that he did lots of what he did find to work.
More specifically, he created not just a few, but several hundred websites that consistently made at least small amounts of money each day. The result, in his case, was supposedly a consistent $15,000+ monthly income after only about six months of work. (Yes, I'd say that's something worth looking into, wouldn't you?!)
Needless to say, about the only way you could pull this off is to use something that does, in fact, automate the whole web site creation process so that it enables you to create lots of websites fairly quickly. And true to my usual form, I didn't just take this guy's word on what is the best program to use to accomplish this, but instead started searching a bit on my own for something I could use myself to get similar results.
And guess what? I found something else that I think is even much better than what that person was promoting. The one I found actually creates streaming video sites on whatever subject you choose, rather than just collections of free articles from around the web. And I think most people find streaming videos about the subjects they're interested in more exciting that just rehashed articles that can be found all over the place already.
So just finding this motivated me to finally open a web hosting account with BlueHost, which is the one that is highly recommended by Holly Mann, who uses the service for her own sites. After doing a lot of research on different web hosting companies, I decided that this was a good one to choose because not only are they one of the least expensive services for what they offer, (as low as $6.95 per month), but they also allow an unlimited number of subdomains for any domain names you host through them. And since I plan on creating a lot of websites here very shortly, this is important. Plus, an added bonus is that your first domain name is on them - it's free of annual fees for as long as you keep your account, which is nice.
Shortly after setting that up, I've now already created 3 web sites so far, all decked out with Google AdSense ads, ClickBank ads and even Amazon ads - all placed automatically by the program! It's really great, since it's so easy to go from start to finish all in one sitting. So I can really see the possibility of setting up dozens or even hundreds of similar sites before long. In fact, I now PLAN on doing so!
So maybe now you can see why I've been so busy lately that I haven't even posted here for a whole month! In fact, to be honest, I actually don't see myself continuing to post here all that often from here on, since there's really not much of any need to. I think I've found what I've been looking for since I started this blog. So I'll be busy doing what I should be doing, and that's creating more and more new and unique websites to make money with. Once they're set up and online, they don't go anywhere - they just keep making more money without doing much of anything to them. Truly "Auto-Pilot" as one of the latest internet marketing cliches goes!
OK...I guess I won't keep it a secret. I wasn't really planning on revealing this here when I started writing this post, but if you'd like to check this thing out for yourself you'll see that I'm not exaggerating. The program I've been using is called Instant Video Site Creator, and on their website they even include a few sample video sites that they've created as examples of what you can do with the program.
So maybe now you can see why I've been so busy lately that I haven't even posted here for a whole month! In fact, to be honest, I actually don't see myself continuing to post here all that often from here on, since there's really not much of any need to. I think I've found what I've been looking for since I started this blog. So I'll be busy doing what I should be doing, and that's creating more and more new and unique websites to make money with. Once they're set up and online, they don't go anywhere - they just keep making more money without doing much of anything to them. Truly "Auto-Pilot" as one of the latest internet marketing cliches goes!
OK...I guess I won't keep it a secret. I wasn't really planning on revealing this here when I started writing this post, but if you'd like to check this thing out for yourself you'll see that I'm not exaggerating. The program I've been using is called Instant Video Site Creator, and on their website they even include a few sample video sites that they've created as examples of what you can do with the program.
Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about the possibilities! So if I'm not posting on here very often anymore, you'll know what I'm up to! I plan to take this opportunity to get lots of sites up and online and start building my own personal "virtual real estate" empire on the web. I figure whether I really end up having the kind of success that other guy had or not, I'm going to give it an honest effort and find out for myself what's really possible.
Wish me luck! And of course, good luck to you as well, if you decide to try the same thing. Take care!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Seasonal eBay Toy Sales (My Own Results)
A couple of months ago I posted about the toy selling guide I had ordered and my plans to follow it, buying toys just to resell closer to Christmas. So in case anyone happens to be curious about how it turned out, here are the final results after eventually returning quite a few items that I didn't sell. (The numbers are all rounded off to keep it simple.)
Total profit after all eBay, PayPal and shipping expenses was about $70. This was after purchasing about $400 worth of toys. Only $138 worth of them were actually sold, but the remaining $262 or so were returned to the stores I purchased them from for the same price.
So the $70 profit sounds a lot better on an investment of $138 than it does on $400, but that's really the amount I had at risk. (If you want to call it that.) But that was a lot of work I did just for that $70 profit - lots of picture taking, eBay item description writing, packing and shipping...not to mention the time I spent in the stores, both buying and returning the items that didn't get sold.
Plus, when you figure in that I also paid $30 for the ebook that inspired me to do all this, it's more like only a $40 profit. So was it all worth it?
Well...that's $40 that I wouldn't have had if I didn't do it. But considering the amount of work that was involved...I think I'd rather be the one selling the ebooks for $30 each than just doing what the ebook recommends! (Which, time and time again, is usually the case with money making plans that are being sold.) When will I ever learn?!
Total profit after all eBay, PayPal and shipping expenses was about $70. This was after purchasing about $400 worth of toys. Only $138 worth of them were actually sold, but the remaining $262 or so were returned to the stores I purchased them from for the same price.
So the $70 profit sounds a lot better on an investment of $138 than it does on $400, but that's really the amount I had at risk. (If you want to call it that.) But that was a lot of work I did just for that $70 profit - lots of picture taking, eBay item description writing, packing and shipping...not to mention the time I spent in the stores, both buying and returning the items that didn't get sold.
Plus, when you figure in that I also paid $30 for the ebook that inspired me to do all this, it's more like only a $40 profit. So was it all worth it?
Well...that's $40 that I wouldn't have had if I didn't do it. But considering the amount of work that was involved...I think I'd rather be the one selling the ebooks for $30 each than just doing what the ebook recommends! (Which, time and time again, is usually the case with money making plans that are being sold.) When will I ever learn?!
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Avoiding Get Rich Scams
Happy New Year!
How are your new year's resolutions going so far?
I'm not really very big on actual new year's resolutions myself, but I do always feel like the start of the new year is a great time to re-evaluate your goals and plans. So if you realize you've been drifting away from focusing on what's important, it's a good time to get back on track.
One of my usual goals is to continue to research new ways to make money, and this year is no different in that way. But I also have to be careful not to be TOO open-minded about money making schemes that are being advertised. As negative as it sounds, most of them are either just not worth the money they cost, or worse - even downright ripoffs.
For example...
Just yesterday I spent my whole lunch hour reading one of those little booklets that's really just a big sales pitch for a money making program. In this case, it was titled "The Overnight Millionaire", by Russ Dalbey. I get these from him every so often, and I had seen some derogatory comments about his products before, so I usually just throw them out. But here it is, Happy New Year time, so I thought I'd read this one anyway.
Before long, it sounded so good that I had halfway decided to order the thing. (For about $150.) But when I got back to work I took a quick look on Google to see what I might find about it.
Turns out, this guy was a genuine scam artist and eventually was sued and court ordered to stop all the infomercials that were selling the program.
Needless to say, instantly the temptation to order it was gone! Although, replacing it was the rather depressing realization that the existence of easy, get rich quick plans that you can buy and put into action immediately is probably just a total hoax.
It's almost like, is there no truth being sold out there? Is there really no way to make a lot of money easily, with very little work involved? If there is, whoever is doing it isn't writing any books about how to do it and selling them for $150 - they're too busy quietly doing it themselves and enjoying their success.
Time after time it seems to be the case that if someone is trying very hard to talk me into spending money to find out how to make money their way...it's a waste of my time AND money.
In fairness, I haven't ordered the program by Russ Dalbey myself, so maybe it's not totally fair to say it's a ripoff. But let's face it...there are way more than just a few people out there saying that's the case in so many words. Common sense kind of tells you that it might be best to avoid that one!
Like I've said before...it's always best to see what you can find on the internet about whatever you're thinking of buying - before you buy it. If it's well-known that something's not a good deal - you'll find out before doing so the hard way.
Sorry to be so negative, or to bust your own bubble about the whole get rich quick subject, but that's what I've found to be true so far. So because of this, even though I'm convinced there is plenty of money to be made on the internet, I think I'd like to steer as far away from the field of "money making advice" as humanly possible when choosing a niche to settle on promoting. I'm starting to feel like I don't even want to be part of it - part of the problem, posing as part of the solution. There are so many products and services out there to be promoted...so why not go into a totally different direction?
That's just my own feeling...there's really nothing wrong with selling money making plans - as long as they really work the way they're advertised. But that's the hard part.
How are your new year's resolutions going so far?
I'm not really very big on actual new year's resolutions myself, but I do always feel like the start of the new year is a great time to re-evaluate your goals and plans. So if you realize you've been drifting away from focusing on what's important, it's a good time to get back on track.
One of my usual goals is to continue to research new ways to make money, and this year is no different in that way. But I also have to be careful not to be TOO open-minded about money making schemes that are being advertised. As negative as it sounds, most of them are either just not worth the money they cost, or worse - even downright ripoffs.
For example...
Just yesterday I spent my whole lunch hour reading one of those little booklets that's really just a big sales pitch for a money making program. In this case, it was titled "The Overnight Millionaire", by Russ Dalbey. I get these from him every so often, and I had seen some derogatory comments about his products before, so I usually just throw them out. But here it is, Happy New Year time, so I thought I'd read this one anyway.
Before long, it sounded so good that I had halfway decided to order the thing. (For about $150.) But when I got back to work I took a quick look on Google to see what I might find about it.
Turns out, this guy was a genuine scam artist and eventually was sued and court ordered to stop all the infomercials that were selling the program.
Needless to say, instantly the temptation to order it was gone! Although, replacing it was the rather depressing realization that the existence of easy, get rich quick plans that you can buy and put into action immediately is probably just a total hoax.
It's almost like, is there no truth being sold out there? Is there really no way to make a lot of money easily, with very little work involved? If there is, whoever is doing it isn't writing any books about how to do it and selling them for $150 - they're too busy quietly doing it themselves and enjoying their success.
Time after time it seems to be the case that if someone is trying very hard to talk me into spending money to find out how to make money their way...it's a waste of my time AND money.
In fairness, I haven't ordered the program by Russ Dalbey myself, so maybe it's not totally fair to say it's a ripoff. But let's face it...there are way more than just a few people out there saying that's the case in so many words. Common sense kind of tells you that it might be best to avoid that one!
Like I've said before...it's always best to see what you can find on the internet about whatever you're thinking of buying - before you buy it. If it's well-known that something's not a good deal - you'll find out before doing so the hard way.
Sorry to be so negative, or to bust your own bubble about the whole get rich quick subject, but that's what I've found to be true so far. So because of this, even though I'm convinced there is plenty of money to be made on the internet, I think I'd like to steer as far away from the field of "money making advice" as humanly possible when choosing a niche to settle on promoting. I'm starting to feel like I don't even want to be part of it - part of the problem, posing as part of the solution. There are so many products and services out there to be promoted...so why not go into a totally different direction?
That's just my own feeling...there's really nothing wrong with selling money making plans - as long as they really work the way they're advertised. But that's the hard part.
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