Have You Been Scammed?

By: Janet Ellershaw

Do you want to make money online? Unless you have some insider advice or a great mentor, it can be very challenging to decipher all the offers and opportunities out there. I call it getting lost down the Internet rabbit hole.

If you are anything like me, every day you?ll have an in-box full of emails telling you about the latest and greatest ways to make money and get rich on the Internet. I?ve been in the home business industry for several years, and have found businesses that work and many that don?t. Once I decided that the Internet was a fantastic environment to develop my business and make money, I began to do some research. So I read a lot, joined many business opportunities and purchased a lot of systems and tools.

I found an enormous number of so-called ?Guru? packages that claim to show you the system, the secret, the one way to make money in home business and make you successful. There are launches of new systems and products everyday, all with the promise of quick and easy ways to make money.

If you are like me, you?ll find that it gets to the point where you are really suffering from information overload, too many products, too many e-books too much software, and all those audios. Have you found that you have even forgotten what you have already purchased? Yet you are still looking for the perfect home business. Because you know that there must be a way for you to make money working at home.

Now don?t get me wrong. There are heaps of people who make money online from many home business programs. And many are legitimate. But some really should be avoided.

Here are some tips on what to do to help you avoid being scammed.

First, make sure that the business is being offered by a legitimate company. This is easy to check ? see if you can phone them and that they have a real mail address. Do a Google search on the business name and the person involved, and check out related websites and forums. Also search for complaints. It is well worth spending some time researching.

Check how long this business has been running. You really want something that is established. There are heaps of start-ups, and of course their selling point is get in now with a ground floor opportunity and make money online faster. The truth is that 95% of these startups fail ? some very quickly, some after a year or so. And when they fall over, your business falls over too. So unless you are willing to risk your money and a lot of your effort, it is best to steer clear of startups.

There are a few types of home business that are suspect: these include home craft, ?stuffing? envelopes, and typing at home. It appears that after paying the joining fee, no real work at home is actually available.

An obvious type to avoid is the pyramid scheme ? this is where you pay a fee for nothing of value, and get others to do the same, with a promise that you will make money. You may have seen these on and off the Internet. The point about these schemes is that they are illegal, and are not legitimate forms of making money in home business.

My research has let me to a conclusion and some advice. Do some research on the home business opportunity you are looking at. Avoid the pitfalls I have mentioned above.

Make sure you are getting something of value for the investment that is required.

And then focus to make sure that you make money with your own home business.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_5189.shtml

Have You Acheived Your Real Independence Day Yet?

By: Chris Zavadowski

This month, in the USA, we celebrate “Independence Day”… a day that commemorates independence from oppression and liberation from those who would seek to keep you from setting your own course and controlling your own destiny.

No matter where you are in the world, the question raised is:

“Have you had your own personal ‘Independence Day’ yet?”

Since you’re a subscriber of mine, I hope so. But if not, you should ask yourself, what can you do to gain more independence, especially using the power of the Internet?

However, before I get into that, let’s talk about what “independence” really means…

To me, “independence” means:

– You don’t punch a clock for someone else (your business is simply a “means to an end” that enables you to pursue your passions and dreams instead of being a “wage slave” for another company or person)

– Your time is your own and you spend it how you want (whether that’s playing video games, traveling or spending more time with your children and family)

– You do NOT trade time for dollars. But rather you have a business that makes you money whether you show up or not… (No matter what type of product or service you have, the web makes this easier than ever before!)

– Your business and income grows every year without requiring you to work more hours…

Properly structured, your business becomes a wealth-producing asset that provides for you. And also provides for your family if something happens to you and you’re not able to take care of them (or can’t work for months).

Let’s face it. If you’re spending all your time responding to emails, answering the phone, putting up mini-sites, calling leads, trying to find new prospects, attending meetings, and “DOING” all the activities IN your business…you have a JOB, NOT a business!

That’s why it’s important at this time of year that you take a step back and take a look at what’s distracting you from the big picture of your TRUE independence.

A lot of people get into an online business or networking business with the hopes of killing their “day” job, but all they do is trade one job for another (often working MORE HOURS at their new “job” than they ever did on their original job!).

One of the reasons that happens is because with the traditional model of MLM, you do NOT have any wealth-producing assets under your control. (You don’t own the company, products, downline, marketing materials, websites, comp plan…nothing!).

Truth be told, I know many people who built up nice incomes the “traditional” way…only to see that income vanish when their company changed the rules of the game (or the FTC got involved).

So if you want true independence, you need to do the following with your business…

#1: YOU NEED A LEAD GENERATING ASSET THAT YOU CONTROL.

Beware of people telling you to ONLY do the traditional ways of MLM.

If that’s working for you, great! But the reality is that 90-95% of the people who get into our industry do NOT have any major success and can NOT make the “usual” ways of prospecting work for them.

The main problem of operating with the old-school methods is that you don’t have an asset that’s working FOR you. In essence, you are STILL trading time for dollars. (Yes, you’ll get duplication in your team…but if you rely solely on that, you’re putting your security and income in someone else’s hands again!).

BOTTOM LINE: Get control of your OWN 24×7 lead generator (ideally a mini-site) if you want true online independence.

#2: YOU NEED TO BUILD A LIST!

There are six profit lists you should be focusing on, but you really need to focus on four of them if you want to experience leverage and freedom in your business.

The first main list you build is a prospect list - people who are interested in your product or service in general. You’ll also build this list for your lead generating mini-site.

The second main list you build is a customer list of the people who get your lead generator above. And also a list of the people who sign up for your company’s product or service.

Using online leverage tools like autoresponders, you can drip on them on autopilot. Plus this allows you to leverage your message out to hundreds or thousands of people at once.

You want to be in control of the relationship - don’t let someone else manage that *critical* asset.

#3: YOU NEED TO PUT SYSTEMS TO WORK IN YOUR BUSINESS!

Why?

So you can remove yourself from the processes that actually drive your business!

In other words…ultimately your business can’t depend on you to DO much of ANYTHING if you want to have a business that is a “real” business.

You can start things.

You can figure things out.

You can get the whole ball rolling.

But after that, get out of YOUR OWN WAY!

You need people, teams, software, and systems in place so that your business can run without your day-to-day interaction or input. That’s a REAL business.

Now here’s what to do to have a true “Independence Day” this month…

– Like I’ve said in the past, take some time AWAY from your business to THINK about what you *really* want from it If your business is a vehicle, WHERE do you want it to take you?

– If you had a “perfect” business, what would it look like and what would it do for YOU?

– Describe your “perfect” day! What would you do? Who would you see? How would you make money if there were NO limitations placed on you?

I sat down for a few days 3 years ago to answer these very same questions questions, and as a result made some massive changes. I’ll admit the changes weren’t super easy (mainly because of getting in my own way), but the result was liberation from everything I disliked…more income…and my life and business became the way *I* wanted them.

So get away from your business and computer to do this exercise in the next 24-48 hours. Be truthful to yourself and the answers - and be willing to make the changes necessary for true independence!

Copyright (c) 2007 Chris Zavadowski

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_5213.shtml

How to Sell and Market Your Ebook in 10 Easy Steps

By: Donna Gunter

Electronic books, or ebooks, are one of the quickest ways to make yourself an infopreneur, or someone who makes money by selling information. As a service business owner, it’s also a simple way to sell the information that you have spent countless hours amassing to all of those who want to buy what you know but who cannot afford to hire you as a service provider.

The most effective way to market your ebook is via a one-page website. If you already have a website, I recommend that you set up a separate stand-alone page for this ebook. Most domain registrars will permit you to forward and mask your product domain to an internal page of your current website. If you don’t have a site, you can create a one-page site with its own hosting.

Here’s what you need to know to successfully market your ebook via a one-page website:

1. An identifiable target market. Ebooks work best as a product for a very specific niche market, like an ebook on how to teach your dog tricks, how to effectively meditate to relieve stress, or how to find a green career. You need to be able to identify and describe your target market, from determining what the target market needs and what they’ll pay for (as well as how much they will pay) to what publications they read, what groups/associations do they belong to, and where they hang out both on- and offline. Make sure you understand what your target market needs and how to reach them before proceeding to the next step.

2. A domain name. The domain name for your ebook site should mirror or closely resemble your product name or a prominent feature of your product. So, for example, if you are a hypnotherapist and you have a podcast that you’re selling on how to use hypnosis to lose weight, then you’d want to try and get a domain name like LoseWeightFast.com. Try and get the .com version of your domain name if possible, but if that’s not available, seek out the hyphenated version of the .com domain name.

3. A give-away. You have two goals for your ebook site: get the contact info from your visitors and convert them into paying customers. Because not everyone will buy your primary product (thus providing you with their contact information), you need another strategy to collect your prospect’s information. The best way to obtain contact info from a visitor is to create a free giveaway that’s closely related to the product that you’re selling in which the content is so compelling that the visitor gladly parts with his/her name and primary email address to obtain the free giveaway. By giving you their contact information, they have become a warm lead and you can start to develop a relationship with them. You can then develop a series of 3-6 follow-up autoresponders to upsell them to purchasing your product.

4. A merchant account. In order to collect payments, you need to be able to take credit card payments online and provide electronic product delivery. I use and highly recommend PracticePaySolutions.com, a company that works with many coaches, consultants and speakers. Your merchant account company needs to offer a “virtual terminal”, which lets you enter and process transactions online and interfaces with your shopping cart program.

The most commonly used virtual terminal is that provided by Authorize.net. If you don’t want to invest in a merchant account, you can begin by using third-party processors like PayPal or ClickBank, but they offer less flexibility than a full merchant service.

6. Shopping cart software. Ultimately, your shopping cart software will be a workhorse for you and enable you to automate many functions of your online business. The cart that I highly recommend is KickStartCart.com, which offers a great deal of flexibility in how you list and bundle products, gives buyers a 24-hour download URL for downloading your electronic product, has built-in autoresponders so you can automatically follow up with your buyers, and provides an email broadcast function so that you can send out special notices to the customers or prospects on your list.

7. Sales letter page. This is the primary sales page of your ebook website, containing a long sales letter with benefits of your product and testimonials of others who’ve used the product. In many ways, this has now become the electronic version of the 6-10 page direct sales letters that used to be sent to us regularly via snail mail. The formula for writing an effective one-page sales letter site includes an attention-getting headline, a strong opening statement, body of the letter that outlines the features and benefits of what you’re offering, the actual offer itself, several testimonials from happy purchasers, and then a request for the sale. Most sales letter pages are constructed very similarly. If you look and compare other one page websites, you’ll find this style used again and again.

8. Follow-up auto responders. It’s always easier to sell to someone who has already purchased from you than to convert a new prospect to a customer. Therefore, the ability to continue to reach out and “touch” your customers is key in developing a relationship with them so that they continue to buy. I create a series of 3-6 follow-up autoresponders that are sent out over the 3 weeks following a purchase to check in with the purchaser and to interest the purchaser in another item.

9. Traffic to the site. Because your ebook site is only one page, it will be virtually ignored in the organic search engine ranking process. There’s simply not enough content to warrant a high ranking on any keyword you might choose. The easiest way to drive traffic to a one-page web site is to purchase keywords, or pay-per-click advertising. Google’s Adwords is the best-known pay-per-click advertiser. You can also generate traffic to this site by holding teleclasses or webinars on some topic covered in your ebook, creating a series of articles with a link back to your product in the resource box, or create a blog or an article directory devoted to the topic of your ebook.

10. Additional selling features. Once you’ve created you one page ebook website , you may want to add additional selling features, especially if the ebook is priced more than $50. You could create additional pages in which you print a chapter excerpt, your table of contents, or an invitation to sign up for your product’s affiliate program.

Ebooks are one of the quickest and inexpensive ways to help you establish your expertise and create another source of income for your business. Follow this simple ebook marketing plan and begin selling your information today!

Copyright (c) 2007 Donna Gunter

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_5443.shtml

Affiliate Programs Over Ad Networks

By: Joe Toth

Many blogs and websites rely on Google Adsense or other advertising services to make money off of their viewers. A lot of people don’t realize how much more money they could be making if they found a few affiliate programs related to their site and marketed them directly. Affiliate programs usually give a portion of the sale to the affiliate that referred the buyer. So, instead of making a couple pennies per click, you can be making dollars per click.

Ad networks display relevant ads according to the content on your page and stop there. Most affiliate managers will work with you in order to promote their product. They will give you helpful tips on how to entice your readers to click and purchase the product without sounding overbearing. This seamless approach of intertwining content and sales has been proven to be more effective than ?optimizing ad placement?.

A few tips for choosing an affiliate program:

1. Find one that isn?t being marketed like crazy. If you?ve seen a ton of ads for something, the chances of you finding people that haven?t seen the product are slimmer.

2. Commission Structure: Most affiliate programs offer a decent commission for making a sale. Some huge corporations have so many affiliates they don?t need to offer good commissions, try and stay away from them. If the product is a subscription, some programs will offer residual commission based on how long the consumer keeps the subscription.

3. Take a look at the marketing resources they offer. Also, start a relationship with the affiliate manager. Ask them if they can have a look at your website/blog and see if they can recommend any marketing techniques. Also, see how responsive they are to your inquiries.

Genius Affiliate Programs, http://geniusaffiliateprograms.com/ allows webmasters, bloggers, etc, to not only find affiliate programs that suit their content, but allows them to talk about and review the affiliate programs too. By communicating with others trying to promote the program everyone can share tips and strategies on what does and does not work.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_5329.shtml

Free Money Making Website

By: Chris Peterson

Free money making websites, are they really worth your time. You bet they are! As long as you work at marketing these sites, you can make money with them. Of course it has to be the right opportunity.

Does the free money making website offer products or services that are in demand? If so than you have a winning combination. There are many free opportunities to make money online if you just do a little looking. Most money making sites offer you an affiliate program to join for free.

By joining these affiliate programs, you get an instant sales page type site to market and earn commissions from. Commissions will vary from program to program. Of course most free money making websites offer some type of upgraded feautures, such as higher commission rates and extra bells and whistles for the site.

You can start your online business for free and after you have made a few sales upgrade to reap the benefits. It is completely up to you.

Many free websites utilize Clickbank Marketplace to give you a larger selection of digital products to sell from a single website. Examples of these sites are CBDeluxe, CBGlobe, CB-Top as well as CB MALL.

These income opportunities are perfect examples of the free money making website in action. I have generated sales through these opportunities and also sales from giving them away for free as people decided to upgrade their websites.

These sites offer you an affiliate downline as well, so you not on will you make commissions from your sales, you will make commssions from the sales of your downline members as well. What else could you ask for in an online business?

It is the perfect way to actually test the waters ,so to say before you invest in the extra selling features. And once you are earning, that money covers upgrading your websites. A smart way to start out your money making online business.

Another great resource for websites to generate money is IMC. Otherwise known as Internet Marketing Center. Cory Rudl was the founder before a traggic car accident claimed his life. Now the company is run by his protege Derek Gehl and seems to be just as successfull, offering affiliates multiple free websites to market with “Top Rate Marketing Tool’s”.

An excellent affiliate pay plan as well as great marketing resources make this an excellent alternative to ClickBank to make money with free sites.

So, after reviewing free money making webistes, You are right to go ahead and join them and start marketing them full time to start earning money from home.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_5235.shtml