Business at Home Income

E-books for viral traffic can be a fantastic way of getting traffic, customers and repeat visitors to your business or service. Every page can have and ad at the top or bottom of every page or both. My Wife wrote one called Key Lime Heaven 45 of the best key lime recipes and set it up to sell through CLICKBANK as a little affiliate program. She wrote it in an Adobe PDF format to make it easy to download and no shipping to worry about. It is so all easy to set up and do most people could handle the simple details.

Here is what happened. Some cake baker with a news letter recorded a little video about it and sent it to his news letter and my Wife made 800 bucks in one weekend. All those e-book had her ads on every page for her primary website. What a way to learn the value of online video to sell your products and services. The cake baker sold his services and my Wife’s cookbook by providing great content for his cake baking news letter.

Boy talk about viral advertising and getting the word out for free. There is just not a better way. If it is something of value like a cookbook that people keep and use over and over again or every the Key Limes start to get ripe. Out comes the cookbook again time for another one of those great Key Lime Pies or Chocolate Chip Key Lime Cookies.

Why should it not be fun an also taste good getting viral traffic with e-books also?

Most people know about something that everyone else does not so why not put it in an e-book and sell it for a couple of bucks. Or give them away for the referral and another contact to add to your contact list.

So is it possible to make money with an internet affiliate program? I have to say yes! Learn more information about affiliate program marketing. Click Here

Viral traffic from video and the services available on the internet to use you can create some really cool stuff. The good ones get passed around to millions of people sometimes in a very short time. This is the kind viral traffic idea that spreads like the flu. Do you remember to one with the rabbit the chased the snake up a tree. It was a video clip being passed around last year. You must have seen it. It came to me 3 or 4 times. There had to be millions of people that got to see is it in just a very few days. One of the biggest players is the YouTube and it has taken over the internet by storm.

Just think a very popular video that millions get to see in just a few days and it has the URL to your business or service at the end or at the beginning. With brought to you by http.

You say well how to I get my video in front of millions so fast? There a hundreds of social networks the will let you upload video right on their networks for free. Then allow you to show them to your friends and business contacts. They even have quick links to send this video to a friend making it even easier to get it start. There are hundreds of millions of members on some of the social networks out there. And before you know it your video has covered the planet and everyone has enjoyed it.

Here is a sample of one way of using a real good video for a web page or a blog post. Click Here

Here is a sample of a hot social network that will let you post video for free the millions can see and enjoy. Click Here

Website Traffic & Viral Marketing

Website traffic can be generated with contests, drawings and the giveaway. This is one of the better ways to build website traffic and a very large business. Google and Hot Mail built huge business by giving away free e-mail accounts. By doing this they now have millions of people to advertise their products and services to with little or no effort and they can do it 24/7.

You can take advantage of the concept to build your customer base or list in a snap for some of the best viral marketing.

For giveaways always require a referral, when people get something for free it is very easy to get their friends names. It makes it a fair exchange plus the added credibility using the friends name cuts way down on the spam complaints. If the gift has some value you build good credibility making the referrals easy to get.

A giveaway can be as simple as offering a cool mouse pad with a really cool picture on it that people would like. Not forgetting to have your website address on the bottom or top but not so it over powers the picture. It is much better to offer a prize that has a good value and something people will keep. It does not need to be real costly to be valued by your customers.

Here is how to set up you contest in a very simple way. Say you have a website about Florida Beaches. You offer a free mouse pad providing a good picture of it so people can see it is one they would want. You contest offer could be as simple as this sample. (Submit your best family beach story) and on (date) we will pick the best story submitted and award this cool mouse pad.

Require a referral name and e-mail address and phone number to add to your list. It really can be as easy as that. It can be ongoing something you run every month with a different subject and maybe a different prize. Coffee cups, t-shirts and nice pens or stationary all with your website address on it.

Would you like to start your own money making website? To start getting all the pros and cons and learn the best options Visit Make Your Own Website.

The Secrets to Getting Viral Website Traffic

The secrets to getting website traffic are not as secret as you think. Viral website traffic what is it and how can you get the explosion of traffic to your website? We will explore in the next few post to this blog.

Viral website traffic is what everyone wants it is where the really high numbers come from. This happens when you a story, product, service or idea into the market place. Then people pick up on it and like it so much they start telling everyone about it. They e-mail it all over the planet in a very short time. The secrets to getting viral website traffic we will explore together over the next few days here.

We need to have some really exceptional services or products. They need to be presented in a way that stands above what the others are offering. When you touch feelings, desires and wants in people they will remember it. A successful but simple idea my Wife came up with to sell her Lamp work beads on E-Bay was this. She would name the breads like they were her children. She would write a little story for each set and put them up for adoption. It worked very well for Website Traffic & Viral Marketing for her E-Bay store to buy her products.

More secrets to Website Traffic & Viral Marketing to come for now please see Five Ways to Attract More Customers to your Business.

A year or so ago I put together a list of free viral advertising sites just to see if the no cost services really work. The results will from something as simple as these things are would astound you. See Free Viral Advertising at its Best.

It’s a question we all ask; how to start a blog that makes money.  It may not exactly be easy, but it is possible.

First:  what do you first need to make money with a blog?  Surprisingly, it’s not traffic!  It’s a theme.  Because without a good theme (”niche”) you won’t easily be found in the search engines.  And if your blog isn’t found in the search engines, you know what that means…no free traffic!

So that bring us to number 2:  to start a blog that makes money you need free traffic.  Sure, you can buy it with PPC (pay per click), but that’s not economical in the long run.  Traffic is the lifeblood of a profitable blog.

So what else is there?  Well, to earn an income, big or small, you need to either secure advertising or sell something.  Of course, without numbers 1 and 2 above, your chances of getting the advertising or selling anything are small.

Number 4 actually ties back to number 1:  you need a blogging platform that is capable of being search engine optimized.  By far and away, that’s a self-hosted version of WordPress (like this blog).  Never fear, Wordpress itself is free and you can get great hosting for less than $8 a month, so it won’t break the bank.

If you want to know more about how you can start a blog that makes money (or make your current blog start paying you), check out the blogging review I wrote up on my website on this subject.  It works!

Small business blogging is growing more and more popular. What is it that attracts small and home-based businesses to blogs? And perhaps even more importantly, are there special “rules of the road” as far as blogging for your business?

Small and homebased businesses don’t always have the money, time or technical expertise to run a full-blown website. But it’s widely accepted these days that an internet presence is needed. And these days many people turn to the internet instead of the phone book, if they want to find a business phone number or address. That’s where blogging comes to the rescue.

Small Business Blogging on the Internet

Blogs are a fast and inexpensive way to establish your business on the internet. There are several free blog sites on which to place your blog, so it doesn’t even need to cost you anything but time. In most cases, it take less than 15 minutes to register with the service, name your blog, choose your template and publish your “about me” information. That’s it — you’re in business!

ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
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Publish and Prosper: Blogging for Your Business
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Blogging Rules for Businesses

I’ve already written up a page on basic blogging rules, but here are a few more when it comes to a homebased or small business.

Only Publish Facts as Facts: If you’re not sure about if something is a fact and can’t confirm it, let your readers know. There is enough mis-information on the web already. It’s fine to speculate, just let people know that’s what you’re doing.

Link to Good Sources: If there’s an excellent resource you’d like people to know about, link to it! For example, I found some of these blogging rules on Rebecca Blood’s excellent post on ethics. If it enhances your readers’ enjoyment, link away! Just don’t go hog wild and link to questionable sites.

Correct Misinformation: If you published a post on something you thought was a fact, then found out it was not, publicly correct your mistake. We’re all human, and we all err at times. But owning up to any mistakes makes you more trustworthy with what you do write.

Got a Business? Start Blogging!

Now obviously blogs aren’t right for everyone; but a well-run blog is a credit to you and your business. So take some time to explore the benefits of small business blogging. You may find it a good fit.

What are some of the free blog tools that are available for you to use?  Whether you already have a blog and want some extras or are just starting out, here are some free items.

WordTracker:  The free version of WordTracker is a must-have for anyone who is looking to rank well in the search engines.  You put in a keyword or keyphrase and WordTracker returns the top 100 searches using that word/phrase.  Then here’s the next surprise; you can click on any of those words or phrases and it gives you those results, too.  A cool free SEO tool.

WordPress.org:  If you’re thinking about getting some web hosting and using it for your own blog, WordPress is a free, and very powerful, blogging platform.  There are a lot of web hosts that offer a free installation as part of the hosting package.  (Note the .org extension for the software itself; the free hosted version of WordPress is .com.)

FileZilla:  If you’re planning to host your own WordPress blog, you’ll need an FTP program of some kind to transfer files.  FileZilla is free and has a good reputation.

Your Hosted Blog:  The two biggest free blog sites, Blogger and WordPress.com, both have no-cost “widgets” that add functionality, and sometimes just plain fun, to your blog.

Mippin:  This is interesting; if your blog has an RSS feed (and virtually all blogs do, it’s a matter of finding the address), you can create a mobile version.  In other words, your blog can be read on a cell phone.  Well, more and more people are browsing on their phones, so it’s definitely worth a look.

StatCounter:  Free statistics for your blog, to track where your readers came from, and where they went while on your blog.

There you go — several free blog tools for you to play with!

If  this post was useful, check out more of my blog information pages.

Blogging rules are pretty simple overall, but you do want to be aware of them, especially if you are blogging for your business, home-based or otherwise.

Don’t Share Personal Information:  By this I mean things like bank account information, social security number, etc.  Phone numbers are a gray area — it’s fine if it’s a business line, but iffy it’s a personal line.

Spelling and Grammar:  Blogs have a reputation for, fairly or unfairly, spelling and grammatical errors.  Your blog doesn’t have to read like a grammar textbook, but correct the really obvious errors.  Same goes for spelling; if your blogging software has a spell-checker, you’d be wise to use it.

Paid Reviews:  If you’re being paid to review a product or service in your blog post, best to admit it up front.  You don’t want to be accused of a conflict of interest.

Don’t Blog About Your Job:  Unless it’s part of your job description, best not to blog about your 8-to-5 job.  Quite a few people have found themselves in the unemployment line for doing so.  In fact, the term “dooced” now means to lose one’s job because of a blog.  (The first widely-known blogger to have this happen owns the blog dooce.com.)

Respect Others:  Now it doesn’t mean you can’t disagree with someone, even strongly disagree.  But you don’t want to disrespect other people, organizations or companies.   This is especially important if you are blogging for your home business! 

Respect Other’s Privacy:  Say you are writing up something about your brother, who happens to be in a witness protection program…  Yes, this is an extreme example, but don’t automatically expect that everyone will enjoy being mentioned in your blog.  Ask before you mention someone by name.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this basic list of blogging rules.  Click here if you want to read more of my posts on blogging.  And naturally, you’re always welcome to leave a comment!

I mentioned some free blog sites in a previous post on how to start blogging.  But just in case you didn’t see it, or you want more options, here’s a listing of sites where you can host a blog for free.

Blogger:  Tops the list, as it’s far and away the most widely used of the free blog sites.  Templates are few, but are fairly easy to customize a but more.

WordPress.com:  There are two WordPress organizations — .com and .org.  The .com site is for a free hosted blog.  More templates, a stable environment.  Note:  WordPress.com will sometimes shut down a blog if they feel it is a “get rich quick” theme.  I haven’t heard of this happening often, but it’s something to consider.

LiveJournal:  Popular with the non-business set, there are some well-known blogs hosted here.  Nice selection of templates.

JoeUser:  Not widely known, but seems to be stable and load pretty fast.  The downside; I don’t know if it’s just who I picked to look at, but everyone seemed to have the same template.

NowBlogging:  Not well known, some of the templates are so-so, some look pretty good.

theBlogs:  Seems to load pretty fast, unlike some of the free blogs sites that didn’t make the cut!  Templates are very simple.

So there they are; a list of free weblog/blog hosting sites for you to consider.  And you know, you can always sign up for a free blog on any or all, to test the waters and see which one you like best.

Creating a blog is fairly easy, as we saw in the previous post on how to start blogging.  Now we’re getting into the meat and potatoes — how to choose your theme when creating your blog.

Ready, Set, Write…Not Yet?

Before you type in your first post, you need to consider what your blog’s theme will be.

You may want to create a digital diary, and write about whatever topic that comes to mind that day.  Maybe you want to promote your business, home-based or otherwise.  Perhaps you want to blog with the end result of getting paid for your blogging.

So before you start writing, give this some thought.  (While you can always change direction at a later date, it’s often best to just start a new blog at that point.)

Let’s Talk About Creating a Blog Theme

I’m going to assume that you want to either promote your business, or want to get paid for your blogging.  That being the case, choosing a theme is all-important.  Why?

Because the tighter your theme (also called a “niche”), the better chance you have of rising in the search engine results sooner than later.  And search engine traffic is the lifeblood of a blog.

OK, let’s use tennis for an example.  Tennis itself is a pretty broad term, and it would be take a long time to start getting good traffic.  So what do you want to discuss about the sport?  Do you want to blog about the players?  The rules?  Tournaments?  The perfect backhand?  Each of these are smaller niches of the theme tennis.

Still using the same example, you could niche down even further by blogging about female players, or tournaments in the United States.

You want a niche that’s large enough that you won’t run out of posts, but small enough to win faster in the search engine game.

Theme Resource

You can use the free Wordtracker to generate information on possible topics before creating a blog.  Start by typing in a word, and it will bring back the 100 most often searched on phrases that use your word (or phrase).  The numbers you see next to each word are the average number of searches per day, across all the search engines.