Saturday, 9 August 2014
Make Money From Viewing Advertisement And Referals 2014 (Easy)
Step 1:
We need to -rst create an account on
both Probux & Neobux to start using this
method. Go to these sites by clicking
here Probux, Neobux.
Click on that link, register, -ll out the
required information, and you will be
ready to use both Probux as well as
Neobux.
(Once you have registered, feel free to
mess around with your pro-le, -ll in
information you want to -ll in, etc. You
might want to -ll in your Paypal, Payza,
or NETELLER account since both Probux
& Neobux needs a place to send your
future pro-ts to.)
Step 2:
Click on all the ads and start making some money. You will only start to see the high earnings when you start getting referrals, they are people that have registered under your referral.you can also rent referrals so you can triple your daily Earnings
RENTED REFERRALS:
Probux & Neobux has a system that
allows you to rent your referrals. These
referrals didn't click on your referral link,
that's why you pay them. You pay these
referrals to be YOUR referrals. The same
thing applies for REAL REFFERALS
(except paying them). Every time a
rented referral clicks on an ad, you get
PART of their earnings as well.
Referrals and Rented Referrals helps
pro-t you. You get part of their
earnings every time they click on an
ad. Referrals are the people you
referred using your link. Rented
Referrals are referrals that you bought
to help earn you moneyhttp://goo.gl/1LN7iV
http://goo.gl/uaqnT8
Video:
Tuesday, 5 August 2014
Thursday, 29 May 2014
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
2014 Hussle online: Make Money From Your Blog This Year
We are mining ProBlogger content this week for super-useful information to kick-start your blogging year with gusto. Today we focus on that old chestnut – is it REALLY possible to earn some cash doing what we love? Well the answer is “yes, but”. So if 2014 is the year you finally knuckle down and make it happen – Darren’s got just the post for you.
This post “Is it Really Possible to Make Money Blogging? [7 Things I know about Making Money Blogging] first appeared in November 2012.
Every now and again I am pulled aside at a conference or am emailed and/or tweeted by someone wanting to get the “real” scoop on whether it is possible to make money blogging.
Is it really possible to make a living from blogging?Is it just a small number of people making money from blogging?Is it only really possible to make money blogging if you write about the topic of making money blogging?
I completely understand the questions and would probably want to add one more:
If it is really possible to make money blogging, how likely is it that you’ll succeed?
I’ve written many times here on ProBlogger about this in the hope of giving a realistic picture of the topic, but I think it is worth touching on again because there is a lot of misinformation out there right now.
On one hand, we see hype on the topic. Periodically someone will claim to be able to make millions from blogging quickly. These claims are usually accompanied with the release of a product or service (i.e. they are marketing spin).
On the other hand, I periodically see people writing about how it is impossible to make money blogging (or that anyone claiming to be full time is either a scammer, a liar, or is selling something on the topic of making money online).
The reality is somewhere between these two extremes.
I’ve been blogging for just under ten years and for nine of those I’ve been making money blogging. It started out as just a few dollars a day but in time it gradually
grew to becoming the equivalent of a part-time job, then a full-time job, and more recently into a business that employs others.
I used to talk about the specific levels of my earnings when I started ProBlogger but felt increasingly uncomfortable about doing so (it felt a little voyeuristic and a little like a big-headed boasting exercise and I didn’t really see the point in continuing to do it)— but my income has continued to grow each year since I began.
On some levels I was at the right place at the right time—I got into blogging early (in 2002 … although I felt I was late to it at the time) and have been fortunate enough to have started blogs at opportune times on the topics I write about.
However I know of quite a few other bloggers who make a living from blogging, many of whom have not been blogging anywhere near as long as I have.
For some it is a hobby that keeps them in coffee; for others it is the equivalent of a part time job/supplementing other income from “real jobs” or helping their family out as they attend to other commitments (raising a family). For others it is a full-time thing.
I’ll give you some examples below.
Recently at our Melbourne ProBlogger event I featured numerous Australian bloggers in our speaker lineup who fit somewhere in the part-time to full-time spectrum. They included:
The year before, we had others, including:
Most of these bloggers are full-time (or well on the way to being full-time bloggers). They come from a wide array of niches and all monetize quite differently
—doing everything from selling advertising, to having membership areas, to selling ebooks, to running affiliate promotions, to promoting their offline businesses, to selling themselves as speakers, to having book deals, and so on. Many have a combination of different income streams.
They are all also Australian, and are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is happening here in Australia—the same thing is being replicated around the globe.
There are many ways to monetize a blog. To give you a quick sense of the many methods check out this “money map” I created a year or so back, which outlines just some that I brainstormed (click to enlarge).
I also recorded this free hour-and-twenty-minute webinar giving an introduction to the topic.
From time to time, people have released products that claim to be formulas for success when it comes to making money online. They outline steps to follow to “guarantee” you’ll make money.
In my experience there is no formula.
Each full-time blogger I’ve met in the last ten years has forged their own path and has a unique story to tell. They have often acted on hunches and made surprising discoveries along the way.
There are certainly similarities in many of the stories but each blogger has their own personality and style, each one is reaching a different audience, and each niche tends to monetize differently.
The key lesson is to be aware of what others are doing and to learn what you can from each other, but to also be willing to forge your own path as well!
One common critique of the topic of monetizing of blogs is that the only people making money from blogging are the ones writing about how to make money blogging.
This is simply not true.
In the above list of speakers from our Melbourne event you’ll notice I included topic/niche of each blogger. None sell products teaching others to make money blogging—all are on blogging on “normal,” every-day topics.
My own experience of having a blog about blogging (ProBlogger) and a blog about Photography is that it is my photography blog that is by far the most profitable blog (I’d estimate it’s ten times more profitable).
I’ve interviewed numerous full-time bloggers of late in a webinar series including:
Interestingly, none of them make money by teaching others to make money online. Sarah largely blogs about health and wellbeing, Tsh blogs about simple living, and Ana blogs about woodwork.
Every time I’ve surveyed readers of ProBlogger about their earnings, we’ve seen that those making money from blogging are in the minority.
In a recent survey of 1500 ProBlogger readers we asked about their monthly earnings. What you’re seeing below is the spread of earnings from readers who are attempting to make money blogging (note: not all ProBlogger readers attempt to make money, so not all are included in these results).
Keep in mind that ProBlogger readers are generally newish bloggers—about half of those who took this survey had been blogging for less than two years.
So of those trying to make money blogging, 10% don’t make anything and 28% are making less than 30 cents per day. A total of 63% make less than $3.50 per day.
Let’s be clear—most bloggers who are attempting to make money are not making a living from blogging.
Having said that, of the 1508 bloggers surveyed 65 (4%) are making over $10,000 per month (over six figures per year) and a further 9% were doing over $1000 per month (which is at least a part-time level of income).
My feeling, having been attending blogging conferences for six or so years now, is that the number of full-time bloggers is on the rise, and there are actually quite a few more people now at least making the equivalent of a couple of days’ work a week in income from their blogs.
However, most bloggers don’t make much.
When I dig down into the stats from the survey on income levels above, and do some analysis of those who are in the top income bracket, it is fascinating to look at how long they’ve been blogging.
85% of those in that top income bracket have been blogging for four years or more. Almost all of the others had been blogging for three or four years.
This certainly was my own experience. I blogged for a year without making money and once I started monetizing it was around two years of gradual increases before I approached a full-time income level. It would have been four years before I joined that top bracket of income (over $10,000 per month).
Blogging for money is not a get-rich-quick thing. It takes time to build an audience, to build a brand, and to build trust and a good reputation.
And of course even with four or five years of blogging behind you, there’s no guarantee of a decent income.
Longevity is not the only key to a profitable blog. The other common factor that I’ve noticed in most full-time bloggers is that they are people of action
.
Passivity and blogging don’t tend to go hand in hand.
Blogging as “passive income stream” is another theme that we hear in many make-money-blogging products, however it is far from my own experience.
I’ve worked harder on my business over the last ten years than I’ve worked on anything in my life before this. It is often fun and gives me energy, but it takes considerable work to create content on a daily basis, to keep abreast of what’s going on in the community, to monitor the business side of things, to create products to sell, to build an audience, and so on.
The key is to build blogs that matter to people, that are original, interesting, and helpful. But this doesn’t just happen—it takes a lot of work.
Yes, it is possible to make money blogging. There is an ever-increasing number of people making money from blogging at a part-time to full-time level —however they are still in the minority.
Those who do make a living from blogging come from a wide range of niches, however one of the most common factors between them is that they’ve been at it for a long while.
How long have you been blogging? Are you looking to make money from it—and have you already? Share your experiences with us in the comments.
View the original article here
This post “Is it Really Possible to Make Money Blogging? [7 Things I know about Making Money Blogging] first appeared in November 2012.
Every now and again I am pulled aside at a conference or am emailed and/or tweeted by someone wanting to get the “real” scoop on whether it is possible to make money blogging.
Is it really possible to make a living from blogging?Is it just a small number of people making money from blogging?Is it only really possible to make money blogging if you write about the topic of making money blogging?
I completely understand the questions and would probably want to add one more:
If it is really possible to make money blogging, how likely is it that you’ll succeed?
I’ve written many times here on ProBlogger about this in the hope of giving a realistic picture of the topic, but I think it is worth touching on again because there is a lot of misinformation out there right now.
On one hand, we see hype on the topic. Periodically someone will claim to be able to make millions from blogging quickly. These claims are usually accompanied with the release of a product or service (i.e. they are marketing spin).
On the other hand, I periodically see people writing about how it is impossible to make money blogging (or that anyone claiming to be full time is either a scammer, a liar, or is selling something on the topic of making money online).
The reality is somewhere between these two extremes.
I’ve been blogging for just under ten years and for nine of those I’ve been making money blogging. It started out as just a few dollars a day but in time it gradually
grew to becoming the equivalent of a part-time job, then a full-time job, and more recently into a business that employs others.
I used to talk about the specific levels of my earnings when I started ProBlogger but felt increasingly uncomfortable about doing so (it felt a little voyeuristic and a little like a big-headed boasting exercise and I didn’t really see the point in continuing to do it)— but my income has continued to grow each year since I began.
On some levels I was at the right place at the right time—I got into blogging early (in 2002 … although I felt I was late to it at the time) and have been fortunate enough to have started blogs at opportune times on the topics I write about.
However I know of quite a few other bloggers who make a living from blogging, many of whom have not been blogging anywhere near as long as I have.
For some it is a hobby that keeps them in coffee; for others it is the equivalent of a part time job/supplementing other income from “real jobs” or helping their family out as they attend to other commitments (raising a family). For others it is a full-time thing.
I’ll give you some examples below.
Recently at our Melbourne ProBlogger event I featured numerous Australian bloggers in our speaker lineup who fit somewhere in the part-time to full-time spectrum. They included:
The year before, we had others, including:
Most of these bloggers are full-time (or well on the way to being full-time bloggers). They come from a wide array of niches and all monetize quite differently
—doing everything from selling advertising, to having membership areas, to selling ebooks, to running affiliate promotions, to promoting their offline businesses, to selling themselves as speakers, to having book deals, and so on. Many have a combination of different income streams.
They are all also Australian, and are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is happening here in Australia—the same thing is being replicated around the globe.
There are many ways to monetize a blog. To give you a quick sense of the many methods check out this “money map” I created a year or so back, which outlines just some that I brainstormed (click to enlarge).
I also recorded this free hour-and-twenty-minute webinar giving an introduction to the topic.
From time to time, people have released products that claim to be formulas for success when it comes to making money online. They outline steps to follow to “guarantee” you’ll make money.
In my experience there is no formula.
Each full-time blogger I’ve met in the last ten years has forged their own path and has a unique story to tell. They have often acted on hunches and made surprising discoveries along the way.
There are certainly similarities in many of the stories but each blogger has their own personality and style, each one is reaching a different audience, and each niche tends to monetize differently.
The key lesson is to be aware of what others are doing and to learn what you can from each other, but to also be willing to forge your own path as well!
One common critique of the topic of monetizing of blogs is that the only people making money from blogging are the ones writing about how to make money blogging.
This is simply not true.
In the above list of speakers from our Melbourne event you’ll notice I included topic/niche of each blogger. None sell products teaching others to make money blogging—all are on blogging on “normal,” every-day topics.
My own experience of having a blog about blogging (ProBlogger) and a blog about Photography is that it is my photography blog that is by far the most profitable blog (I’d estimate it’s ten times more profitable).
I’ve interviewed numerous full-time bloggers of late in a webinar series including:
Interestingly, none of them make money by teaching others to make money online. Sarah largely blogs about health and wellbeing, Tsh blogs about simple living, and Ana blogs about woodwork.
Every time I’ve surveyed readers of ProBlogger about their earnings, we’ve seen that those making money from blogging are in the minority.
In a recent survey of 1500 ProBlogger readers we asked about their monthly earnings. What you’re seeing below is the spread of earnings from readers who are attempting to make money blogging (note: not all ProBlogger readers attempt to make money, so not all are included in these results).
Keep in mind that ProBlogger readers are generally newish bloggers—about half of those who took this survey had been blogging for less than two years.
So of those trying to make money blogging, 10% don’t make anything and 28% are making less than 30 cents per day. A total of 63% make less than $3.50 per day.
Let’s be clear—most bloggers who are attempting to make money are not making a living from blogging.
Having said that, of the 1508 bloggers surveyed 65 (4%) are making over $10,000 per month (over six figures per year) and a further 9% were doing over $1000 per month (which is at least a part-time level of income).
My feeling, having been attending blogging conferences for six or so years now, is that the number of full-time bloggers is on the rise, and there are actually quite a few more people now at least making the equivalent of a couple of days’ work a week in income from their blogs.
However, most bloggers don’t make much.
When I dig down into the stats from the survey on income levels above, and do some analysis of those who are in the top income bracket, it is fascinating to look at how long they’ve been blogging.
85% of those in that top income bracket have been blogging for four years or more. Almost all of the others had been blogging for three or four years.
This certainly was my own experience. I blogged for a year without making money and once I started monetizing it was around two years of gradual increases before I approached a full-time income level. It would have been four years before I joined that top bracket of income (over $10,000 per month).
Blogging for money is not a get-rich-quick thing. It takes time to build an audience, to build a brand, and to build trust and a good reputation.
And of course even with four or five years of blogging behind you, there’s no guarantee of a decent income.
Longevity is not the only key to a profitable blog. The other common factor that I’ve noticed in most full-time bloggers is that they are people of action
.
Passivity and blogging don’t tend to go hand in hand.
Blogging as “passive income stream” is another theme that we hear in many make-money-blogging products, however it is far from my own experience.
I’ve worked harder on my business over the last ten years than I’ve worked on anything in my life before this. It is often fun and gives me energy, but it takes considerable work to create content on a daily basis, to keep abreast of what’s going on in the community, to monitor the business side of things, to create products to sell, to build an audience, and so on.
The key is to build blogs that matter to people, that are original, interesting, and helpful. But this doesn’t just happen—it takes a lot of work.
Yes, it is possible to make money blogging. There is an ever-increasing number of people making money from blogging at a part-time to full-time level —however they are still in the minority.
Those who do make a living from blogging come from a wide range of niches, however one of the most common factors between them is that they’ve been at it for a long while.
How long have you been blogging? Are you looking to make money from it—and have you already? Share your experiences with us in the comments.
View the original article here
Monday, 10 February 2014
Make Money Blogging
Trust me, this is a wrong question.
Why?
Because you can’t make money blogging! Yes, you read that correctly and I mean every ounce of that statement.
The truth is that every successful blogger you know didn’t make money blogging; they earn their income from monetizing their blog.
In other words, they provided what their audience needs in form of e-books, video courses, membership access, affiliate offers and so on.
If you’re wondering why you’re not making money with your blog, it could be possible that you’ve missed the objective.
The right step to take is to review what you’ve done so far with your blog, what type of content you produce regularly and how satisfied your readers are.
It’s so pathetic that a lot of bloggers today don’t even understand the concept behind blogging. They think that waking up every morning to write a new post is the recipe for raking in cool dollars online. I see a blog as the tool which my business needs to reach its target audience. What about you?
As you’re reading this post, please remember that thousands if not millions of people are desperately searching for you – what you’ve to say and the solution you provide. The web is primarily powered by content and with it you can easily share your opinions and provide answers.
There is nothing fancy about blogging. The caveat is this: provide the answers to the questions of your ideal readers.
Day in and day out people visit blogs not because they’ve extra time added to their 168-hour/week, but because they’ve pressing needs that must be met. The earlier you start using your blog for what it’s meant for – a business tool, the better and faster you will start making your money.
Your accounting software is a tool, YouTube is a tool, Twitter is a tool and a blog is not different, except in the way we use it.
The question above is from one of my readers. I’ve sent this post link to him already. I’m sure that after he reads this, he’ll understand blogging better. You too!
I’ll try to make it simple for you, even though it’s totally impossible to give all the answers to making money online in a single post. Before you can make a dime online, you’ve to know what people (your readers) are struggling with.
Money doesn’t fall from the sky. It’s the byproduct of a solved problem. In other words, when you help someone become better, or add a cubit to their knowledge they’ll have no other option than to exchange their money with you. Therefore, stop looking for some magic means to earn $10k blogging because it doesn’t exist.
Get to know your target audience.That’s where market research comes in. Remember that market research is quite different from keyword research.
When you study the market, you can interpret what’s going on with your reader even though he or she is not physically present. Once you can know their intent for coming to your blog in the first place, keyword research will help you to get list of words and phrases they’re using to express what they feel on the inside.
The product doesn’t have to be yours. In fact, I started out as an affiliate marketer promoting other people’s product to my readers. I still do. Guess what? I love doing it.
It works because I only recommend products which can help my prospects/readers get closer to achieving their goals. This product doesn’t have to solve all their problems and that’s ok – just make it viable and that would be fine.
If the product is yours, make sure you offer it at a reasonable price.
Then expose the product to thousands of people who are highly targeted if you can. I’ve a niche site that sells physical product. My niche site is not saturated (less competition). I get 15 – 20 targeted organic visitors daily and I’ve sold items worth $5905.88 in the past 2 months.
Your blog may not be getting thousands of readers per day, but that doesn’t matter provided they’re interested in your product and have money to buy.
I believe you can make enough money to support your life and family through blogging, but don’t take shortcuts because it could turn out to be the long route.
Find out what your readers/prospects are struggling with and then offer a viable product at a reasonable price.
You already know how to drive traffic to your blog. Maybe not in the thousands, but a few hundred could get you started on your road to internet success. Work smarter and don’t give up no matter the pressure from family and friends.
How do you make money with your blog? I dare you to share your strategy in the comment box below. See you at the top!
Stay up to date with all of John Chow’s tips for making money online and blog posts by subscribing via email. Your email will be kept private and never shared with anyone.
View the original article here
Friday, 7 February 2014
5 Ways to Find Out What People Really Want From Your Blog
This is a guest contribution from Sabina Stoiciu, blogger, photographer and traveller.
While it can be quite redundant to pose this question, here it goes: Why blog? Let’s have a look at a few key stats that’ll convince you to set up a blog in the next two seconds, if you haven’t already got one:
77% of Internet users read blogsnearly one quarter (23%) of the time spent on the Internet is directed towards blogs and social networkssmall businesses that run blogs increase their leads number by 126%offering valuable content is one of three reasons why people follow your brand on social networks81% of US customers give credit to recommendations coming from blogs they’re fond of(see the full stats on socialmediatoday)
One thing that happens to many fresh bloggers is not knowing what to write about or what would best benefit their audience, in order to convince them to subscribe to that blog and to make them desperately wait for another post to be published.
Supposing this little problem of not knowing exactly what to blog about might occur to anyone, not only to blogging rookies, it’s a good idea to think about what people want from your blog.
By not knowing this, you make yourself a disservice because:
a) you can fail at attracting new readers if you’re not aware of what they seek and
b) you might lose some of your current readers if you don’t meet or keep up with their expectations.
When talking about blogs, it’s important to know how readers see them. Some people read blogs to live other people’s experiences. Others look for tips they can apply to themselves. Several people look for business information, while there are many others who seek entertainment material. As Darren wrote, a good question is also what your content is centred upon – information, inspiration or interaction.
Generally people find a blog, like it and become a reader because they value the content and the way in which it’s written, but wouldn’t it be great to actually know what your visitors want and to use this knowledge to attract them towards your blog for converting them into full-time readers?
Below you will find 5 ways that can help you in the quest of finding out what people really want from your blog.
You can do so by offering them a way to express their content related desires and by actually reading what they tell you.
Two places where readers can share what they would like to find are the comments section of every blog post and the “contact me” form you can embed into your blog. A form like this provides people a short and easy way to get in touch with you and to keep discussions private, in comparison to the comments section. 123ContactForm is an online form and survey builder that could help you in several ways. For example, it offers a free plugin for WordPress based blogs that can help you create a customisable contact form with almost no effort – you can access one here.
You can also run a survey in which you kindly encourage them to tell you what they would most love to see on your blog.
The benefit of a survey is that it can help you in two ways: with your current readers and with potential readers. Why is that? Because you can publish it on your blog, where you’re addressing it to your current readers, but you can also publish it on other websites, partner blogs or social media channels, where you can reach a whole bunch of other people that aren’t necessarily your readers yet.
A free survey tool like the one from the already mentioned 123ContactForm can help you publish your survey on any of the above channels and personalise it as you wish, if you want people to recognise your brand.
While point 1 and 2 refer to the “ask the readers what they want” part, points 3 to 5 handle the more technical aspect of the user vs. content research, that is letting the data speak about what topics you should cover.
Get to know what is trending by doing some keyword research on Google, as well as on your blog. Both types of search can help you.
Here’s how: if you find out what people are looking for right now, you can start covering those topics (supposing you haven’t already) and drive organic traffic to your blog. On the other hand, knowing what people have been looking for on your blog can point you towards popular topics which you can afterwards choose to cover more in-depth.
As of the free tools that can help you do the research, you may want to try out Google Trends, the already popular Google Analytics and your blog’s stats. Again, this tool works for current and future visitors.
Another indicator of what drives your visitor’s interest is the post traffic. Articles that readers find relevant and valuable will show an increased traffic volume compared to ones that are not so appealing.Thus, keeping an eye on your blog’s traffic data from Google Analytics or the blog stats is always a good idea that might also define or at least improve your content strategy.
One thing to bare in mind when talking about post traffic is also how well you optimise your posts for search engines. By using relevant and targeted keywords, clearly expressing your ideas, using a friendly, yet catchy headline, setting helpful tags and image descriptions, you allow visitors to find more easily what they’re looking for. And Google will love you for that.
You can also check out Darren’s post on how to optimise a blog post that performed well in terms of traffic.
The last point on our list (but definitely not one that should be neglected) is to analyse the engagement around your blog posts and around their reverberance in social media.
To be more specific, take a look at the number of likes, shares and comments a post received directly on your blog, as well as on the social media channels where you shared it. Naturally, posts that sum up a lot of engagement have always proved themselves to be a hot topic for those engaging with them. Hence, why not consider exploring more of these topics that your readers were so keen on?
These are some ideas on how to find out what your blog visitors are looking for. Remember, you can always test to see what works out best and let the results point you towards the direction worth following.
Sabina Stoiciu enjoys blogging, photography, traveling and finding ways of gathering and sharing relevant business knowledge. You can follow her on Twitter. She also writes for 123ContactForm, the online form and survey builder – try it for free.
Not on Instagram? Your Blog Could be Missing Out
This post is from ProBlogger Team member Stacey Roberts. You could be forgiven for thinking Instagram is just for celebrity selfies and sharing pictures of what you ate for lunch. And while that’s exactly what Instagram is, it’s also so much more. For a start, it’s a network of totally engaged online creatures – exactly the kind of people who love to read blogs, and probably would love yours too, if you let them know you have one.
So many of us are visual creatures, and we love pretty pictures. In the last few years, Instagram has been the place to be for that – many of my blogging friends now call it their favourite form of social media. It is invaluable for interacting with readers (especially ones who don’t have a blog), and for finding new ones that aren’t coming to you through the usual channels.
It takes two seconds to upload a snippet of your day and check in with what’s happening. Instagram routinely gets plenty of interaction and engagement from fellow users, and while a tweet can sit in the ether feeling sorry for itself, an image is far more evocative. It also doesn’t take much for your followers to “like” your image, and you’re always in their feed as it’s not based on algorithms only Einstein could understand.
Instagram doesn’t take much brainpower to engage with – it’s not a tweet to be read, it’s not a Facebook status to understand – so people check in on it much more than they do other forms of social media. You can flick through while waiting in the doctor’s office, in the car at school pick-up, before a meeting, or even while waiting at the checkout. So the more you pop up in people’s feeds, the more your name and brand begin to get familiar. And because it takes one tap to engage – people are more likely to.
Folks love to share, and are often found snapping a picture of their freshly-made bed, a beautiful blue sky, or even their kids who painted their face instead of their paper. And they don’t just share and run, often they scroll through for a bit as well to see what everyone else is up to. Then they check back to see if anyone has chatted to them, which results in more scrolling. It would be silly not to capitalize on this, and be where the people are.
If you’re looking for 150 million monthly active users globally, you can’t go past Instagram. The 65 million photos uploaded by users every day result in a billion likes – and some of those could be on your content. Instagram says users spend three times as long on Instagram as they do on Pinterest and twice as long as on Twitter.
You don’t have to be funny or clever, you can just snap a picture of something intriguing and share that. There is always the lure of the “behind the scenes” images, so if you’re a business, upload some shots of what you all get up to in a day’s work. You might think it’s just for the young, but you’ll be surprised how useful it is to find new readers of any age, and how easy it is do do.
Less effort for more readers? You’d be crazy not to do it.
Stacey Roberts is the content ninja at ProBlogger.net, and the blogger behind Veggie Mama. Can be found making play-dough, reading The Cat in the Hat for the eleventh time, and avoiding the laundry. See evidence on Instagram here, on Facebook here, and twitter @veggie_mama.
View the original article here
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Collect email addresses of your site visitors with a "join my list" signup on your website. Then, easily create and send compelling email newsletters, promotions and announcements to keep them coming back.
KEY FEATURES
Add a visitor signup to your website
Import in-house permission-based names
Includes 50 professional templates
Use templates as is or easily customize to match your brand
Add a "forward to friend" to every email
Manages and hosts your subscriber list
Constant Contact is easy and affordable -- TRY IT FREE and see for yourself.
Click here to sign up for your Free trial
Small Business Digital Policy Guide Free Ebook
What's inside
Smart phones and social media have changed our
lives in ways no one could dream of a decade ago. Technology is also
blurring the traditional divide between a worker’s home life and their
career. They bring their personal tech to work – and take work calls and
emails on the same device that has photos of their family and social
comments, likes and shares from their friends. It’s vital that
businesses understand the risks and have the right policies and
infrastructure in place to deal with this ever-connected world.
But with some key safety advice - from how to
manage your firm’s social activity to employees’ use of personal smart
mobile tech, business can make the most of business life online.
How to Make / Create Your Own Website: The Beginner's A-Z Guide (Online Hussle)
by Christopher Heng, thesitewizard.com
This tutorial shows you how to make or create a website. It is intended for the beginner and layperson, taking you step by step through the whole process from the very beginning. It makes very few assumptions about what you know (other than the fact that you know how to surf the Internet, since you're already reading this article on the Internet). As some steps are more involved, this guide also links to selected relevant articles on thesitewizard.com that you will need to click through to read for more information.
The first thing you need to do before anything else is to get yourself a domain name. This is the name you want to give to your website. For example, the domain name of the website you're reading is "thesitewizard.com". To get a domain name, you have to pay an annual fee to a registrar for the right to use that name. Getting a name does not get you a website or anything like that. It's just a name. It's sort of like registering a business name in the brick-and-mortar world; having that business name does not mean that you also have the shop premises to go with it.
A web host is basically a company that has many computers connected to the Internet. When you place your web pages on their computers, everyone in the world will be able to connect to it and view them. You will need to sign up for an account with a web host so that your website has a home. If getting a domain name is analogous to getting a business name in the brick-and-mortar world, getting a web hosting account is comparable to renting office or shop premises for your business.
After you sign up for a web hosting account, you will need to point your domain to that account on your web host. Information on how to do this can be found in the guide How to Point a Domain Name to Your Website (Or What to Do After Buying Your Domain Name).
Once you have settled your domain name and web host, the next step is to design the web site itself. In this article, I will assume that you will be doing this yourself. If you are hiring a web designer to do it for you, you can probably skip this step, since that person will handle it on your behalf.
Although there are many considerations in web design, as a beginner, your first step is to actually get something out onto the web. The fine-tuning can come after you've figured out how to publish a basic web page. One way is to use a WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") web editor to do it. Such editors allow you to design your site visually, without having to muck around with the technical details. They work just like a normal wordprocessor.
There are many commercial and free web editors around. For those who don't mind spending money on a commercial program, Dreamweaver comes highly recommended by many webmasters. If you are planning to use this editor, thesitewizard.com has an online tutorial called Dreamweaver CS5.5 Tutorial: How to Design a Website with Dreamweaver CS5.5. The tutorial takes you through all the steps of creating a fully-functional website with multiple pages and a feedback form, and provides you with the theoretical and practical foundation that will help you create and maintain your site.
If you prefer to use free software, you can find a complete tutorial on using KompoZer, a free WYSIWYG web editor, in the article How to Design and Publish Your Website with KompoZer. Like my Dreamweaver tutorial, this one also guides you through the process of creating a website from scratch. In addition, it shows you some of the main features of the KompoZer software so that you can go on improving and updating your site on your own.
There are many other web design software around. If you prefer not to use either of the above, you can find some others listed on thefreecountry.com's Free HTML Editors and WYSIWYG Web Editors page. I also have tutorials for a few other WYSIWYG web editors here.
After you have followed my tutorial, and are on the way to designing your website, you might want to read the article Appearance, Usability and Search Engine Visibility in Web Design as well. It takes a brief look at some of the real world issues that every web designer must deal with.
An integral part of web design is search engine readiness. Search engine promotion does not start after the web site is made. It starts at the web design stage. The article 6 Tips on How to Create a Search Engine Friendly Website is a must-read. Moreover, How to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking on Google is also important for the simple reason that Google is the most popular search engine around, at least at the time this page was written.
There are many other issues regarding the design of web pages. The above will get you started. However, if you have the time after you get something out onto the web, you may want to read my other articles on Web Design and Website Promotion and Search Engine Ranking.
Although I list this step separately, this should be done throughout your web design cycle. I list it separately to give it a little more prominence, since too few new webmasters actually perform this step adequately.
You will need to test your web pages as you design them in the major browsers: the latest versions of Internet Explorer (version 11 at the time of this writing), Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome. All these browsers can be obtained free of charge, so it should be no hardship to get them. Unfortunately, directly testing your site in all these browsers is the only way you can really be sure that it works the way you want it to on your visitors' machines.
Optional: If you have the time, you may want to read my article on how to test your website in multiple versions of Internet Explorer and check your site under earlier versions of Internet Explorer ("IE"). This is not strictly necessary nowadays, since the main culprit causing website problems, IE 6, is disappearing from the Internet, with IE 7 following in its heels. In fact, chances are that the number of people using IE 6 will be too insignificant to bother with come 8 April 2014, the date that Microsoft stops supporting Windows XP (the system that includes IE 6). IE 8 and later are generally considered to be standards-compliant, although, like all browsers, earlier versions don't support the latest versions of the web standards.
If you want to improve the chances that your website will work in future versions of all web browsers, consider validating the code for your web pages. In layman's language, this means that you should check that the underlying code of your web page, called "HTML" and "CSS", has no syntax errors. You don't actually need technical knowledge of HTML and CSS to validate the page, since you can use one of the numerous free web page validators around to do the hard work. On the other hand, if the validator tells you that your page has errors, it may sometimes be hard to figure out what's wrong (and whether the error is actually a serious one) if you don't have the requisite knowledge. Having said that, some validators actually give concrete suggestions on how to fix your code, and one of them, called "HTML Tidy", is even supposed to be able to fix errors for you.
If you are selling products or services, you will need some way to collect credit card information. If so, take a look at How to Accept Credit Cards on Your Website. I also have a step by step guide on How to Add an Order Form or a "Buy Now" button using PayPal to a Website for those using PayPal.
If you need advertisers for your website, you might want to read How to Make Money From Your Website and the follow-up article How to Increase Your Website Revenue from Affiliate Programs. A list of advertisers and affiliate programs can be found on Affiliate Programs: Free Sponsors and Advertisers. Those companies are on the constant lookout for new web publishers to display their advertisements.
When your site is ready, you will need to submit it to search engines like Google and Bing. You can use the links below to do this.
In general, if your site is already linked to by other websites, you may not even need to submit it to these search engines. They will probably find it themselves by following the links on those websites.
Apart from submitting your site to the search engine, you may also want to consider promoting it in other ways, such as the usual way people did things before the creation of the Internet: advertisements in the newspapers, word-of-mouth, etc. There are even companies on the Internet, like PRWeb, that can help you create press releases, which may get your site noticed by news sites and blogs.
There are also less obvious ways of promoting your website, which you might want to look into.
Naturally the above guide is not exhaustive. It is a distillation of some of the essential steps in getting started with your site. If you want more information, you should read the other articles on thesitewizard.com. However, the above tutorial should be enough to help you put your website on the Internet.
Copyright © 2006-2014 Christopher Heng. All rights reserved.
Get more free tips and articles like this, on web design, promotion, revenue and scripting, from http://www.thesitewizard.com/.
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This article is copyrighted. Please do not reproduce this article in whole or part, in any form, without obtaining my written permission.
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How to Make / Create Your Own Website: The Beginner's A-Z Guide
Copyright © 2006-2014 Christopher Heng. All rights reserved.
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This page was last updated on 19 January 2014.
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Wednesday, 5 February 2014
How to Improve Search Engine Ranking (Online Hussle)
by Christopher Heng, thesitewizard.com
When I first started as a webmaster, there were numerous search engines around. Nowadays, though, we are, for the most part, left with only Google and Bing, with Google providing the majority of visitors to most websites, including thesitewizard.com. This article provides some tips on how you can improve the position of your site in the search engine results on Google.
Google ranks a page according to a large number of factors. Exactly what these factors are is apparently a trade secret, although there are number of well-known things that contribute to the ranking of a page.
One of the factors that contribute to a web page being considered "important" is the number of links pointing to that page. For example, if your page has 100 quality links leading to it, it will be ranked higher (in Google's estimation) than one that only has 20.
But what are "quality" links"? These are links from other popular pages, that is, pages that have, themselves, many (quality) links pointing to them. (Yeah, I know. My definition is circular. And it's possible that the search engine has other factors that determine the quality of a link.)
Anyway, in general, since Google ranks your pages according to the number of links pointing at your page, your site will do better if it has more links pointing to it.
Google seems to give weight to the title of your page. By title, I mean the text that is sandwiched between the HTML
View the original article here
Women vs Men In The Business World: Are They Really Different?
The battle of the sexes continues to wage in numerous areas, including the world of entrepreneurship. While the concept of equality always makes for a compelling story, the fact of the matter is that when it comes to women vs men in business, the differences are like night and day. The distinctions are not only obvious to a degree, but backed up by research that compares the attitudes and tendencies of the two sexes. Without further ado, let’s take a look at how female entrepreneurs stack up against their male counterparts.
The National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) funded a study that identifies the key differences between male and female business professionals in leadership positions. In addition to the challenges they face, the study looked at factors such as motivation, education and training. This research shines a bright light on the issues women especially, have to deal with in the business world.
If it’s one challenge male and female entrepreneurs share, it’s the struggle of gathering the funds needed to get their business ventures off the ground. 22% of women found that securing financial resources was the biggest hurdle standing in the way of starting a business compared to 33% of men. So do women have access to backers with deeper pockets? Not necessarily. According to the study, it likely has to do with the fact that the business endeavors they indulge in are seen as less complex, and thus require less funding. Females were generally linked to fields such as childcare, fashion, and beauty, while men were strongly linked to real estate, construction, and communications.
Caring for loved ones was also cited as a major challenge for female entrepreneurs. 66% of women found that these responsibilities influence their decision to start a business, versus only 27% of men. The caring component is supported by women who reported starting a business as a way to cope with the demands of family of life as well as those who said they held off on starting their operation until their kids were older.
One of the most interesting elements of the study focuses on the skill and educational background of genders in the business realm. Roughly 15% of all respondents graduated with a degree in the subject related to their business speciality. Women, however, appear to be more willing further their education as 20% said they were open to continuing their training compared to only 10% of men.
The general perception is that women and men take a considerably different approach to run their business. When questioned about these differences, 54% of respondents initially said there were none. But when prying deeper, researchers found that 46% led on that women are thought to take a more cerebral approach to management, being more careful and taking the time to evaluate things before making crucial business decisions. Men, on the other hand, are perceived as more aggressive and make decisions considerably faster.
There are other studies that closer examine the decisions women and men make in the business arena. According to a recent study conducted by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), these decisions revolved around staffing, reinvestment, and business innovation.
The GEM study found that 112 million respondents employ at least one person, and 12 million plan to have up to six employees over the next five years. When it comes to job creation, it would appear that the SMB sector is leading the charge. In Kenya, SMBs employ roughly 80% of the country’s workforce. The SMB vertical could create nearly 10 million jobs in the U.S. By 2018 – all by women entrepreneurs, by the way.
Women business owners in emerging markets are investing a stunning 90 cents of every extra dollar they make into their human resource department. Strong focus on health, nutrition and education suggest that women are heavily focused on family and community outside of their professional responsibilities.
The GEM study defined innovation as a business delivering new products to some or all of their audience. In regions such as the U.S. and the developed areas of Europe, women were found to be outperforming their male counterparts in the way of innovation.
Males and females may have different takes on running a business, perceived and proven, but one thing is for sure – the landscape is more balanced than it has ever been. The GEM study reported that 126 million women are running or starting a business, while 98 million have been running established businesses for three years or more. What’s more astounding is that this research effort only accounted for 67 of the world’s nations, suggesting that several more women entrepreneurs are making significant contributions to the global economy.
What is your take on this? Are you a female entrepreneur? How have you found setting up your business? We want to hear from you, so please get in touch below and leave a comment!
View the original article here
Monday, 3 February 2014
Valentines Niche: Say It With Beer and Beef Jerky?
Valentine's Day sales don't measure up to Christmas, but for some businesses, the holiday is still pretty sweet.
On average, shoppers will spend about $126 each on loved ones this year, up 8.5 percent from 2011 and the highest amount in the past decade, according to the National Retail Federation's 2012 Valentine's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions survey. Total spending in the U.S. for the holiday is expected to reach $17.6 billion this year.
Roses and chocolate-covered anything aren't likely to cede their favored status, but some entrepreneurs are taking a chance on more unorthodox gifts -- from catering to men to creating offbeat products.
Here are three unconventional Valentine's Day bouquets and a look at their marketers:
Beef Jerky Bouquet
Jacksonville, Ore.
They say the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so you probably can't go too wrong with this beef-jerky bouquet from Gary West Smoked Meats. The bouquet of one dozen long-stem steak strips sells for $39 with no shipping fees.
Owner Paul Murdoch says Christmas still reigns supreme at Gary West Smoked Meats, but Valentine's Day is a close second.
Paul Murdoch, co-owner of the meat smoker, says a "couldn't hurt" philosophy was the key ingredient to his burgeoning Valentine's Day operation. A former employee suggested the idea of making seasonal bouquets using Gary West's jerky in 2007. Though skeptical at first, Murdoch says the marketing ploy proved to be a boon for the business. Christmas still reigns supreme in seasonal sales, but Valentine's Day is a close second -- accounting for about 5 percent of annual sales, which totaled $2 million last year. "Valentine's Day has become really significant," Murdoch says. "When we introduced this jerky bouquet, I didn't think it would do nearly as well as it has."
Many people might not consider a gift of beef jerky very romantic. But the quirkiness is part of the appeal. Fox News, Cosmopolitan and other media snapped up the story, and orders surged, Murdoch says. The company's targeted use of Facebook advertising has been especially effective. After the Cosmo piece, Murdoch realized that his core customer is women in relationships with men. "We'll use Facebook primarily because you can target that demographic so accurately," he says.
Beer Bouquet
Austin, Texas
OK, giving the guy or gal in your life a six-pack surely doesn't sound very special. But what if it's his or her favorite beer and it comes in a bucket that says Happy Valentine's Day with a big red heart scrawled on the side? This six-piece beer bouquet, which comes fully loaded with peanuts, a koozie and a bottle opener, is $54.99, plus shipping.
The Valentine's Day-themed beer bouquet comes with six beers, a koozie, a bag of peanuts and a bottle opener.
After working in consumer packaging and graphics, Josh Horowitz had something of an epiphany on a rooftop in New York City. Using votive candle holders and empty beer bottles, he made his first beer bouquet. After moving to Austin, Texas, in 2009, he launched Beer Bouquet, which sells football and seasonal-themed bouquets through the mail to 46 states. "It was a no brainer," Horowitz says. "Everyone has a favorite team and everyone has a favorite beer. Plus, there was no real go-to gift for guys, other than neck ties or a flask."
Last year, Valentine's Day accounted for roughly 25 percent of Beer Bouquet's sales of $75,000. Horowitz expects sales to ramp up this year, as he creates new bouquets with more snack foods like beef jerky and pretzels. He also plans a Groupon promotion for Father's Day, when he hopes to sell 5,000 bouquets.
Dirty Rotten Flowers
Los Angeles
Dirty Rotten Flowers co-founder Roman Sacke notes that many customers send his rough-hewn bouquets to ex-flames and bosses.
While nothing says, "I love you," like a dozen red roses, Roman Sacke wondered what receiving a dozen dying roses would say. So, he started Dirty Rotten Flowers to find out. The company sells three variations of the oh-so-tragic bouquet, starting at $25, plus shipping. The Valentine's Day bouquet called "I love you not" costs $27 and includes a tattered teddy bear holding a red heart that says, "I love you."
Sacke, who hails from the Czech Republic and now lives in Los Angeles, calls the bouquets "silly" and "fun" and says they're meant in jest. "Where I'm from people have a different sense of humor. They would like it," says Sacke. He notes that many customers send the bouquets to old bosses and ex-flames.
This "I love you not" bouquet comes with a tattered, unfortunate looking bear holding a heart that says "I love you."
Dirty Rotten Flowers is actually an offshoot of Sacke's more traditional floral business. Like John D. Rockefeller who found profitable uses for the byproducts of kerosene production, Sacke has found a way to make a little money from his unsold flower inventory. "In my regular flower shop, there were always so many leftovers that would just die," he says. "We began wondering what you do with them, other than composting." Sacke declined to discuss his financial results, but he did say that last year the company sold 300 to 400 rotten bouquets for Valentine's Day, which amounts to roughly $8,000 to $11,000. Not bad for dead flowers.
Diana Ransom is deputy editor of Entrepreneur.com.
Need better web hosting? Choose 1&1. Free: domains, marketing tools, search engine ad & more. Check OFFERS!
View the original article here
On average, shoppers will spend about $126 each on loved ones this year, up 8.5 percent from 2011 and the highest amount in the past decade, according to the National Retail Federation's 2012 Valentine's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions survey. Total spending in the U.S. for the holiday is expected to reach $17.6 billion this year.
Roses and chocolate-covered anything aren't likely to cede their favored status, but some entrepreneurs are taking a chance on more unorthodox gifts -- from catering to men to creating offbeat products.
Here are three unconventional Valentine's Day bouquets and a look at their marketers:
Beef Jerky Bouquet
Jacksonville, Ore.
They say the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so you probably can't go too wrong with this beef-jerky bouquet from Gary West Smoked Meats. The bouquet of one dozen long-stem steak strips sells for $39 with no shipping fees.
Owner Paul Murdoch says Christmas still reigns supreme at Gary West Smoked Meats, but Valentine's Day is a close second.Paul Murdoch, co-owner of the meat smoker, says a "couldn't hurt" philosophy was the key ingredient to his burgeoning Valentine's Day operation. A former employee suggested the idea of making seasonal bouquets using Gary West's jerky in 2007. Though skeptical at first, Murdoch says the marketing ploy proved to be a boon for the business. Christmas still reigns supreme in seasonal sales, but Valentine's Day is a close second -- accounting for about 5 percent of annual sales, which totaled $2 million last year. "Valentine's Day has become really significant," Murdoch says. "When we introduced this jerky bouquet, I didn't think it would do nearly as well as it has."
Many people might not consider a gift of beef jerky very romantic. But the quirkiness is part of the appeal. Fox News, Cosmopolitan and other media snapped up the story, and orders surged, Murdoch says. The company's targeted use of Facebook advertising has been especially effective. After the Cosmo piece, Murdoch realized that his core customer is women in relationships with men. "We'll use Facebook primarily because you can target that demographic so accurately," he says.
Beer Bouquet
Austin, Texas
OK, giving the guy or gal in your life a six-pack surely doesn't sound very special. But what if it's his or her favorite beer and it comes in a bucket that says Happy Valentine's Day with a big red heart scrawled on the side? This six-piece beer bouquet, which comes fully loaded with peanuts, a koozie and a bottle opener, is $54.99, plus shipping.
The Valentine's Day-themed beer bouquet comes with six beers, a koozie, a bag of peanuts and a bottle opener.After working in consumer packaging and graphics, Josh Horowitz had something of an epiphany on a rooftop in New York City. Using votive candle holders and empty beer bottles, he made his first beer bouquet. After moving to Austin, Texas, in 2009, he launched Beer Bouquet, which sells football and seasonal-themed bouquets through the mail to 46 states. "It was a no brainer," Horowitz says. "Everyone has a favorite team and everyone has a favorite beer. Plus, there was no real go-to gift for guys, other than neck ties or a flask."
Last year, Valentine's Day accounted for roughly 25 percent of Beer Bouquet's sales of $75,000. Horowitz expects sales to ramp up this year, as he creates new bouquets with more snack foods like beef jerky and pretzels. He also plans a Groupon promotion for Father's Day, when he hopes to sell 5,000 bouquets.
Dirty Rotten Flowers
Los Angeles
Dirty Rotten Flowers co-founder Roman Sacke notes that many customers send his rough-hewn bouquets to ex-flames and bosses.While nothing says, "I love you," like a dozen red roses, Roman Sacke wondered what receiving a dozen dying roses would say. So, he started Dirty Rotten Flowers to find out. The company sells three variations of the oh-so-tragic bouquet, starting at $25, plus shipping. The Valentine's Day bouquet called "I love you not" costs $27 and includes a tattered teddy bear holding a red heart that says, "I love you."
Sacke, who hails from the Czech Republic and now lives in Los Angeles, calls the bouquets "silly" and "fun" and says they're meant in jest. "Where I'm from people have a different sense of humor. They would like it," says Sacke. He notes that many customers send the bouquets to old bosses and ex-flames.
This "I love you not" bouquet comes with a tattered, unfortunate looking bear holding a heart that says "I love you."Dirty Rotten Flowers is actually an offshoot of Sacke's more traditional floral business. Like John D. Rockefeller who found profitable uses for the byproducts of kerosene production, Sacke has found a way to make a little money from his unsold flower inventory. "In my regular flower shop, there were always so many leftovers that would just die," he says. "We began wondering what you do with them, other than composting." Sacke declined to discuss his financial results, but he did say that last year the company sold 300 to 400 rotten bouquets for Valentine's Day, which amounts to roughly $8,000 to $11,000. Not bad for dead flowers.
Diana Ransom is deputy editor of Entrepreneur.com.Need better web hosting? Choose 1&1. Free: domains, marketing tools, search engine ad & more. Check OFFERS!
View the original article hereTo Find Your Next Great Business Idea, Narrow Your Focus
image credits to shutterstock
When you’re just starting out in business, narrowing your target market can be difficult for fear you’ll be excluding part of your potential customer base.
But if you can clearly define a market and its needs upfront, you can tailor your product or service offerings narrowly to meet that demand and quickly gain more wallet share than your competitors.
Related: How to Target Your Message to Find Customers
What exactly does this mean?
1. You could be like the enterprising young woman in northern California who discovered a secondhand store’s almost hidden section of distinctive children’s clothes and toys. As it turned out, the store’s owners wanted out of what they saw as a dead-end business. The woman took over the lease and reoriented the entire operation to focus only on children’s products, turning a 1,200-square-foot “dead-end business” into an 800-square-foot startup that was profitable in six months and expanded into a new downtown location.
2. You could be like the mechanic who went through the lengthy and fairly expensive process of getting his auto dealer’s license so he could go to the local car auction to make bids, specifically on older model BMWs. He didn’t want to sell the whole cars, but rather to take them apart and create a line of aftermarket parts for BMW owners and mechanics.
3. You could be like the computer repair technician who decided to strike out on his own in the highly competitive field of information-technology services, only to discover a more specialized market that offered higher rates, more loyal customers and more referral business. That narrow market turned out to be Apple computers.
These examples illustrate a general truth about business opportunity: The true opportunity may not be apparent at the outset. Niches exist in every broad category, and your job as an entrepreneur is to figure out what they are and whether they offer a profitable business opportunity.
Related: Three Ways to Find an Edge in a Crowded Market
Looking at the marketplace this way could also change your thinking on the true nature of a startup. There’s no rule that says you must start from scratch, in your garage or the back bedroom of your house.
Simply walk or drive along any street and you’ll pass any number of businesses struggling to make ends meet because they aren’t selling what their market truly wants or needs. Like the owners of the dead-end secondhand store, they may not even know what their best-selling and highest profit items are -- or that those very specific items are sitting in a neglected section of their store or office.
Category leaders tend to be highly focused, and many times, that focus can appear too narrow. But companies with focus grow precisely because their niche is so distinctive. If you think this applies only to the small retail store or the Macintosh repairman, take a look at what BrandZ, a division of WPP, lists as the 10 most valuable brands in the world:
1. Apple
2. IBM
3. Google
4. McDonald’s
5. Microsoft
6. Coca-Cola
7. Marlboro
8. AT&T
9. Verizon
10. China Mobile
These companies have built their business on a single word: focus. In the case of top-ranked Apple, its greatest success has come from a single product, the iPhone.
Related: How to Maintain the Focus to Run a Business (Video)
So start to expand your focus by doing a more narrow analysis of your market and what people are buying -- or would buy if given the option. Don’t worry about the sales you might be missing by not offering everything to everybody. Your narrow focus could deliver more business than you can handle, producing higher-margin cash flow to enrich your bottom line.
The author is an Entrepreneur contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
Brad Sugars is the founder and chairman of ActionCOACH. As an entrepreneur, author and business coach, he has owned and operated more than two dozen companies including his main company, ActionCOACH, which has more than 1,000 offices in 34 countries.
View the original article here
Startups Take on the Business of Education
When it comes to opportunities for entrepreneurs, the field of education has a decidedly steep learning curve.
"Education startups certainly have unique challenges," says Ariel Diaz of Boundless, a Boston-based startup that offers free online textbook replacements for college students. "The decision-making process in education is very convoluted, slow and complex."
But that environment hasn't discouraged entrepreneurs from approaching education with a variety of products and services. Given that for-profit education-related ventures are often viewed as suspect -- online-learning organizations like the University of Phoenix have come under state and federal investigation for potentially exploitative and fraudulent practices -- the key to making a go of an education startup is identifying market inefficiencies and challenges, but with an overriding focus on doing good.
Identifying a niche market
Sometimes, doing the right thing can have surprising beneficiaries. Judy Zimet found a niche in need of attention when she began Law Student Ally to provide one-on-one guidance to law students. Her service helps them achieve higher grades, obtain internships and improve their chances of landing a job once they graduate.
"This is no longer the world of Tom Cruise in ‘The Firm,' where huge signing bonuses and luxurious gifts are showered upon law school graduates enticing them to join prestigious big law firms," says Zimet, who is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
"Today, big law firms are in a financial downturn along with the rest of the world. Consequently, although there are approximately 45,000 law school graduates a year, there are only 25,000 legal jobs available. To land a job, law students need more than a juris doctorate earned with average grades. With personal coaching, law students receive higher grades, maximize class and internship choices, and receive recognition through publicized works and awards."
Dealing with administrative challenges
Once you've found a problem to solve, you're likely to come up against another one -- the administrative element that plays a role in most any sort of educational system. Since, for instance, a school principal won't actually be using products such as study-aid software, entrepreneurs are compelled to devise particularly persuasive marketing strategies -- or try to circumvent administration altogether.
"Decision makers are often not the actual users of a particular product or service, similar to business IT decisions 10 years ago," says Boundless' Diaz. "This makes sales and distribution a significant challenge for startups who have to learn to navigate this. Some startups, including mine, are opting to go direct to students."
Getting the timing and marketing right
If you do decide to market to students directly, academic schedules can pose still more hurdles. While many products and services know no real "season," education entrepreneurs have to watch the calendar carefully to time marketing efforts and product rollouts.
"The school year is cyclical in nature," says Diaz. "It means that there are fewer opportunities to iterate on the product, and creates hard deadlines -- namely at the start of school year and semesters -- by which new releases need to be complete."
Entrepreneurs have responded with fresh marketing strategies, even for those education-related ventures that are a bit more traditional in nature. David Greenberg started Parliament Tutors three years ago. The New York-based company offers in-home and online tutoring to prepare students for all subjects, from kindergarten through high school, as well as tests like the SAT and MCAT.
Rather than advertising in education publications or making in-person pitches to students, parents and teachers, Greenberg opted to pursue a comprehensive social marketing strategy.
"Article marketing proved to be my niche,'" he says. "With each new article came more impressions, more traffic and more backlinks. We now have over 500 tutors operating in more than 20 states and 80 cities."
Ushering in the startup era of education?
Parliament Tutors' growth underscores an overriding dynamic of the education system. Some schools and taxpayers pump more money into programs and services only to see scholastic performance continue to erode. Others trim budgets and, with them, valuable programs and offerings. It's a volatile and very personal problem. Any entrepreneur with a solution that's not only cost-effective but also boosts students' grades and test scores will likely find an audience.
"Entrepreneurs love identifying the problem, innovating a solution and assessing the market opportunity," says Charles Matthews, executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research at the University of Cincinnati. "When it comes to matters of education, however, the deliverables are focused on the patchwork of constituents that constitute the education ecosystem -- students, parents, prospective employers and politicians. The bottom line is not just profit or loss, but your impact on society."
"Right now we are seeing a boom in educational costs and a simultaneous reduction in education effectiveness," adds Diaz. "This creates a huge opportunity to leverage the prevalence of technology and the availability of open content to dramatically revolutionize education. I believe we are entering a golden age of education startups, and that education as a whole will see more change in the next 10 years than in the previous 50."
Jeff Wuorio is a veteran freelance writer and author based in southern Maine. He writes about small-business management, marketing and technology issues.
This story originally appeared on Business on Main
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How Niche Players Can Compete Against Big Brands
Andy Katz-Mayfield (left) and Warby Parker co-founder Jeff Raider of the shaving startup Harry's.
If any company can prove that banking on a niche product can return a goldmine, it's Warby Parker.
But rather than designer eyewear for a fraction of the price, Warby Parker co-founder Jeff Raider recently set his sights on something even more niche: men's grooming. With the launch of his ecommerce-shaving-accoutrements store Harry's, Raider is planning on redefining the grooming market, much like he and his co-founders did with eyewear.
As with any highly-specific product or service, Raider had to find a way to angle his startup to standout. What could he change about the men's grooming industry that could make a difference in the eyes of customers? As it turns out, the way men interact with razors is as old as… well, facial hair.
So, Raider focused on offering a unique user experience at an affordable price -- think $2 blades, $10 handles and $8 shaving cream. Plus, it doesn't hurt that he added a socially conscious component -- donating a razor or dollar every time a pack of blades are purchased.
"We felt like we had to take a new approach in established markets to build our differentiated brands," says Raider. "Big name brands at times don't communicate directly with customers, and we've found customers like brands that care about them and exist to try to deliver a great experience."
While Harry's is just the latest niche brand to carve out a new concept in an established market, it isn't the first. Eco-friendly products brand The Honest Company is taking on Kimberly-Clark's HUGGIESwith its organic line.
TOMS shoes reshaped footwear with its socially-conscious model and Bonobos is making a name for itself in menswear with an emphasis on fit.
Related: College Entrepreneur Dives Into Niche Business
As a young entrepreneur looking to follow in the footsteps of these successful niche businesses, here are some tips on how to create your own demand by redefining the market:
Identify users' needs.
By disrupting an established market, entrepreneurs can gain knowledge pertaining to what is missing in the current offerings. Listen to consumers on social media and forums for complaints, demands and recommendations. Some of the best inspiration comes right from the horse's mouth, making it easy for you to discover untapped demand.
Make your product stand out.
If you want to create demand for your product or service, you've got to offer the world something they haven't seen before. Whether it's a new experience, a twist on a popular product or an added service, pinpoint the difference and shout it from the rooftops. Not only should you focus on value creation by identifying your unique-selling proposition but also treat your customers as people first, not dollar signs.
Related: Not Top Dog? 4 Ways to Project a Bigger Brand
Tell a story.
If you are positioning your product to disrupt an established market, chances are you have a distinct offering. Great. Tell people about it. Consumers love a great story. By providing background information and a little narration, you can set yourself apart from every other company slinging the same product.
Get the word out.
Once you've created a distinguished product or service, manufacture more demand by generating buzz. One low-cost strategy is to build up your brand ambassadors -- the people that can't stop talking about your product. Ask for their feedback, give them sneak peeks into new offerings and provide incentives to spread the word.
Related link: How to Launch a Successful Brand Ambassador Initiative
What strategies do you use to standout?
Let us know your secret in the comments.The author is an Entrepreneur contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
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Thursday, 30 January 2014
How To Force Yourself To Succeed
A lot of people look at the big names in this industry like they have some unbreakable, uncanny focus, and key success habits that the rest of us just can’t seem to grasp ourselves. I’ve worked with some of the biggest and the best, and I can say that this usually just isn’t so.
What they’ve learned how to do is to hack their own system to force themselves to succeed. And the good news is that you can easily do it too.
Let me explain a simple concept that you should put to use immediately if you want to start getting all the things you want for 2014 and beyond.
How To Force Yourself To SucceedFirst, let’s consider the problem we all face. Most of us know exactly what we need to be doing. It’s the execution part we usually fail at. We all know what we need to do, it’s actually doing it that’s the problem! The guru’s, the 6 and 7 figure earners face this same challenge too. Here’s how they get around it.
They give themselves external pressure in order to get done what they know must get done. Yet, most people failing online try internal pressure, which rarely works. So how do they do this, and how can you do the exact same thing?
Well the main thought here is that you have to have real, external pressure to get done what you need to. For example:
A few weeks ago, I set up a Webinar with the CEO of LeadPages, Clay Collins. This was a live webinar with a live date and time. That is external pressure. I forced a deadline on myself. I have to get all my stuff ready for the webinar or the 600 people who registered will get a blank screen, I would look like an idiot, and Clay would never talk to me again.
Most of the time, I will put up the webinar registration page, and I will have nothing else prepared. The point is, putting up the page forces me to get stuff done. Otherwise, I’ll never get around to it. I’m like most people. I’m not a super disciplined person. Without the external pressure, I wouldn’t get anything done!
I know of others that throw live events. Same thing. People start buying tickets, purchasing airline tickets, and now they’ve GOT to get it done or they will ruin their reputation.
I know of huge product creators (I’m sure you’ve heard of a few of them) that will set up a Joint Venture page well before they’ve even created the product. They’ll notify their list about the launch coming on a set date.
Why?
Now their affiliate partners and their list, know when they’re going live. They’re arranging their schedule to promote for them. Their lists are amped up to check it out. It massively puts them under the gun to get it done. If they didn’t create this external pressure, the product would likely never see the light of day.
This should be a big ‘aha’ moment for some of you.
Because the next time you think somebody is better than you, is some kind of machine, likely they struggle just like you do to get things done. The only difference is they’re putting themselves externally under the gun to get it done.
So whatever you’re working on right now, start setting deadlines, and find a way like the above to make yourself externally accountable to get it done. Implementing this can mean the difference between making nothing this year to making 6-7 figures.
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Earn Big Bucks with Flights and Hotel Reservations
I’ve always said that it is better to spend your money on experiences than it is to spend your money on physical things. Don’t get me wrong. I like buying new toys as much as the next guy, but I find that I extract a lot more enjoyment when I travel. And I still want to find the best deal on flights and hotels.
Everyone is always searching for a bargain, so why not capitalize on that trend by joining a travel affiliate program? One such program is Travel Payouts, providing you with all sorts of tools to help your visitors find the best deals on flights and hotels. And then, you can earn a sizable commission. Let’s get started with today’s review and get a closer look into what Travel Payouts offers.
In short, Travel Payouts is a travel affiliate program. As you can imagine, what this means is that post an appropriate link or form to your website, blog, social network page or whatever other property you have on the web. When a visitor completes a sale, you earn a commission.
Travel Payouts provides search engines where visitors can look up the best prices for their travel needs. Jetradar handles all sorts of international flights between all sorts of international destinations, Hotellook scours through over 250,000 hotels in 205 countries to bring up the best prices, and Aviasales takes care of flights in Eastern Europe with offers from 728 airlines worldwide.
The travel industry is potentially very lucrative, but how much of the pie are you receiving? For each sale that you refer through Travel Payouts, you’ll earn up to 70% of the income that they receive.
The actual payout will vary, of course, but Travel Payouts says that the average payout for each airline ticket sold is $9 and each hotel reservation generates an average of $20 in commissions. Your mileage may vary (no pun intended), but some of the top partners earn thousands of dollars each month. This can be earned via your website, but also when you post links to their mobile apps. For the latter, you earn commissions on reservations made during the first year.
You also earn 5% of the income generated by any new partners that you refer to the affiliate program.
Unlike many other affiliate programs where you have to wait for approval or speak to an affiliate manager before getting started, approval with Travel Payouts is instant. You don’t even need to confirm your e-mail address. After registering for the affiliate program, you are directly immediately to the main dashboard.
Here, you’ll find all of your at a glance information about earnings. You get the vital data about visitors, searches, clicks, bookings, earnings, pending profit, click-thru rate, cost-per-click and so on. You also get detailed analysis of each submitted form, plus access to a myriad of reports.
Rather than simply providing you with a basic text link (which they also do), Travel Payouts offers a broad range of affiliate tools. You can embed a form like the one above on your website, customizing the colors and some other options. This way, visitors to your site can search for deals immediately and you can earn your commissions more quickly.
Some other tools include widget maps where visitors can see the lowest prices between destinations and even a white label option where you can brand the travel search engine yourself, as well as API and SDK for mobile apps. There are also a number of banners available, though they take on the appearance of forms. If you’d like, you can generate specific text links for specific destinations and tickets too. It’s all quite robust.
By default, you earn 70% of the income generated by all the flight ticket sales and hotel reservations that you refer through Travel Payouts, but if you register with special promo code JOHNCHOW, you will earn 90% of the revenue for your first three months. You will need to activate the promo before March 1 to be eligible. As long as you meet the minimum threshold of $50, monthly payouts are issued via your choice of Webmoney, Yandex, bank transfer, ePayments or Paypal.
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