Archive for November, 2010
Free Web Hosting
Free web hosting sound so tempting. Like everything else that is free, however, there is usually a catch. The catch is usually the fact that the web host will put ads on your website over which you have no control. This is the price you pay for your free website.
You cannot blame the host. They have to generate income somehow. What better way than to promote their ads on your content. Every time someone comes on your site to visit you, they are hit with a barrage of ads. In some free websites, they may have a hard time not clicking on the ads. The ads can move all over the page causing you or your friends to accidentally click on them.
After someone has clicked on an ad on your free web page, they can then expect to receive quite a bit of e-mail from not only the site that they clicked on, but also any other similar business.
Free web hosting is fine if you want to have a social page, a resume page or even a small website devoted to a celebrity. For business revenue, however, it is not the best choice.
Although you may have the most wonderful products for sale through your website at bargain prices, you can only sell them if people visit your website. When using free web hosting your are limited. In most cases, you can have one account and cannot post links between accounts. Most free web hosting is for personal purposes only and rarely allows business selling.
If you want to make money on the internet, the way to do it is to use a dedicated server. This way, you can not only place any ads that you want on your site that will generate income for you as you are the website host, but you can also use the extra space to make up other websites that can use keywords to draw people to your sales website. The content containing keywords shows up on the search engines and people are directed to your small, content site. Here, they read some information and receive a link to your money making site.
Free web hosting is good for those who only want to use the internet sparingly, but not for the purpose of making money. Even a shared server, which is a step up from a free server, and is basically the same thing only gives you more space and bandwidth as well as freedom, is limited. To truly make money on the internet, you have to make use of all aspects, including the ads and affiliate links.
Advertising on the internet can be free if you understand how to use the search engines to generate interest in your products as well as use a dedicated server to its maximum abilities. While a free web hosting service is a fine idea for a personal website that can help you keep your family updated about your life, it is not the way to make money on the internet.
5 Reasons Why Blogging is the New Internet Marketing Tool
Do you ever feel like you know just enough about Blogging to be dangerous? Let’s see if we can fill in some of the gaps with the latest info from Blogging experts.
Blogging is a concept that started in late 90s. It used to be a way to comment an existing webpage, an opportunity for visitors and readers to react or voice out one’s opinion on the said page. What started as a single-sentence commentary has evolved into pages of personal take on just about anything and everything under the sun. As it continues to move forward, online advertising has tapped into the blog’s potential. Here are 5 reasons why you should use blogging as an Internet marketing tool.
1.Blogging is simple. The simplest way to get your piece on the net is through blogging. No skills are necessary… an average adult can read and type, or at least click a mouse. It’s like having a virtual piece of paper and you just write your ideas, experiences, new products, and hope that the truth behind your articles comes out and entice your reader to also try your product. If you have a PC and an Internet connection (who doesn’t?) then you can blog and advertise.
2. Blogging is authentic. In this day and age where advertising saturate our lives, we question the credibility of promoters’ claims. However, in blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid advertising. Reading blogs about first-hand product use is like talking to people about their first-hand experience. You definitely want to buy a tried and tested product.
3. Blogging is free. Because blogging is yet to be proven as a mainstream online advertising media, most sites see it as something to augment current marketing tools and thus offer it for free. Any opportunity for free webtime is definitely a bonus especially to businesses that are starting up. Needless to say, paid blog pages can generate more income for your seriously growing business.
4. Blogging builds credibility. As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own information needs. As such, you become an expert on it; as a consequence, more readers visit your site and more bloggers link to your blogs. As companies and professional organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon get in touch with you for advertising on your blog page, or make you an affiliate, which pays for every referral generated from your blog site.
5. Blogging builds your market. Unless you are a Hollywood star, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts. Mom has a lot of friends, so she lets her friends know how interesting your blog site is. But you need not depend on Mom to increase your readership base. Look into the following ways to build your market through blogging:
Knowledge can give you a real advantage. To make sure you’re fully informed about Blogging, keep reading.
-By using your e-mail. Today, blogging is overcoming the e-mail’s popularity in quickly and effectively reaching and expanding a market. In this age of speed and quick access, logging in and downloading e-mail is simply taking longer than clicking into a blog site. Let them explore your site by using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog site. If your e-mail is on an entirely different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site.
-By using subscription. An easy way to get your readers e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blogsite. Keep some exclusive information for your subscribers to entice readers to subscribe and give their e-mail address. Just be responsible in using their e-mail address, as the last thing you want is a comment on your blog that you are a spammer.
-By understanding your readers. Conduct a simple survey for your readers to understand their profile and advertising preferences. Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a trial that you shared. In this way, it is like interviewing your readers without the commitment and intrusion of a face-to-face interview.
-By joining a blog network –A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc. Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one link to several real bloggers about a single subject. Clearly, more bloggers are better than one.
-By using RSS. RSS is the fastest growing technology on the Internet today. As such, having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readership base. Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site.
Give your business a boost by effectively using blogging as an Internet marketing tool.
When word gets around about your command of Blogging facts, others who need to know about Blogging will start to actively seek you out. http://www.article-ecommerce.com/
Email Listing Creation – Possible with Your Blog
Email opt-in lists are very important. They provide you a legitimate way to keep in touch with your customers, not to mention a way to ensure that you don’t lose them to the competition as well.
Subscription Software
Choose the best software that will allow you to automate the registration process for would-be subscribers. Once you have this up and running, visitors of your blog can automatically opt-in to your email list even without your physical supervision. As the settings for these programs are configurable, it’s up to you to choose whether approval of subscriptions would be automated or manual.
Offer and Link
Use an attention-catching image or decorative text when inviting people to join your email list. Be sure to place it in a prominent area of your homepage. As for other pages, just choose a spot where it’s highly visible and which you could maintain for your entire website.
As for the link, just keep it simple and remember to make regular checks in order to ensure that it’s always in good working order.
Call to Action
Since building your email list is your current goal, it’s best to end every blog entry you write with an invitation to join your email list. Your call to action for now should offer strong encouragement on joining your email list.
For an effective call to action, just keep your sentence short but powerful. Use action-packed words and if possible, try creating a sense of urgency with your words.
Deadlines
Speaking of urgency, one way of making people even more aware of the need to join your email list is by offering an incentive with it. This can be special discounts, membership privileges, or free ebooks and the likes. Whatever you end up offering, just remember to place a deadline on your promotion.
With the clock ticking, your blog readers are sure to experience just how necessary it is for them to avail of your offer.
Benefits
Besides those incentives you’ve mentioned, there must also be other benefits for a customer to enjoy once they do sign up for your email list. Explain to them what you hope to accomplish with your email list and how they’ll benefit from it at the same time.
Signing up with your email list, for instance, will allow them to receive regular updates about the latest additions to your blog. They may also be able to receive newsletters containing special members-only data.
Safety and Confidentiality
Another way to encourage people to sign up for your email list from your blog is by giving them the assurance they need when it comes to safety and confidentiality. Purchase and register for what you need in order to provide your customers as secure platform for the registration process. A secure platform is one that keeps customer data safe from getting hacked.
As for confidentiality, you should also give your solemn word not to share any information they submit with other parties.
Overall Improvement
Of course, the real clincher is your blog itself. If you consistently work on providing the best content for your blog, you’re giving them the best reason to sign up for your email list. If you don’t prove to them that there’s something to look forward to in your blog, they will never think there’s any reason for them to join your email list.