Hey guys. Most of my time spent online is for my hobby. I manage a few websites and recently have been monetizing them. Here is a step by step tutorial on how you can build a successful website with a small amount of cash. 1. Strategize. Ask yourself a few questions. What kind of website do you want to build? What will be your domain name? How will you differ yourself from competitors? Can you monetize it? A. What kind of website are you looking to make? This is the first hurdle. Who will it interest? The younger the market sector you're aiming for the smaller the chance for a high profitable website. Even if it isn't something you are necessary interested in, it can still be profitable to you and resourceful to a consumer. It's also best to stay away from highly competitive areas such as graphics websites, template websites, news, entertainment... you get the idea. B. What will your domain be? This is a key to success or failure. Will you go for a keyword domain or a marketable domain. Either way your domain should ALWAYS reflect your websites name. If you want to create a website for iPhone enthusiasts and you choose to name your website iEnthusiasts then your domain name should reflect you website name ienthusiasts.com. People will remember your domain name by remembering you website name. This type of domain name is what we call a Marketable Domain. A marketable domain is one that can be used for company names and holds somewhat of a business and trademark value. Another type of domain is a keyword domain. This is when you put your target keywords in your domain name. The issue here is that most of these are taken and this, for the most part, only works for new products/ideas. An example of this is starting a diet website. bestofweightloss.com That is a 3 keyword domain which covers the target keywords to be used in association with your website. Keyword domains sometimes don't have the same website name. This is where confusion can happen amongst your visitors. If they remember your site name and not your domain name they can end up visiting a competitor instead. C. How will you differ yourself from competitors? Today's internet market is highly competitive. Every single click and impression counts! What will you do to differentiate yourself from the next website in your niche market? Things you can do to separate yourself include free stuff, better appearance, better products, better prices. 1. Free stuff doesn't have to cost you money. If your website revolves around premium website templates you can offer free templates as well. 2. To beat your competitors prices you can offer buy one get one free or referral incentives. If you're both selling commissioned products from commission junction, clickbank, or other referral programs you can differentiate yourself by including coupon codes for example. Although you will receive a lower commission more customers will choose your website because of the lower prices. D. Can you monetize it? For those who are wondering what monetize is, it means turning or converting something into currency/cash. Can you take your idea, your website, and turn it into a money making machine? Unless you can use your website to actually sell something your ability to monetize will be minimal. You don't always have to sell a product to make money but basing your website around a niche market and product can be the deciding in the success of your website. Before going further you should sign-up for Adsense (or other ad program), Analytics, and at least one affiliate marketing program (I suggest Commission Junction). So, you've made it this far. What next? Content, content, content. Not always in the exact order. You should always write original content for your website. Think new. Think fresh. Think from the consumer standpoint. Stay away from Information Overload. Keep your articles concise, original, valid and honest. I also suggest to keep them short and to the point. When writing articles don't stray from your target keywords. If you have a website about hard rocks don't write about soft rocks. Get it? Now that you have written your articles it's time to integrate them into your website. I've found it best to use Adsense along with my articles. If your website is keyword rich (relating to your niche) your adsense will display ads relating to your niche market. I don't want to discuss SEO as that is a whole different game and you can find articles on that all over google. Let's go to step two of building your money machine. I love writing articles about affiliate products. Once you get partners on CJ you can get their referral code and sell them for commission rates. Let's look back at iEnthusiast. Your best bet is to affiliate (on commission junction) with Apple or companies that produce accessories. Write articles about the best protective skins, cases, ear buds, charge docks, etc. and incorporate the affiliate links or images within the article. If people find the information informative and are in need of a new cover, for example, they will click the referral link and purchase the product from the retailer. Money in your pocket and a happy visitor who is sure to return. One thing you must have is patience. It's not easy doing this. Like I said, search for SEO articles and help sites. Learn about keywords, backlinks, search engines and more. There's also many other ways to make money. I just listed a few easy and free ways. It's not easy making money at the beginning and I was having issues too. I never had problems with adsense income but I was only averaging $5 in sales per day on commission junction. However, in the last 3 days I've made almost $75 on it. Simply because I was patient and waited on a product that had yet to come out. I hope you enjoyed this read and found it informative. I don't consider myself an expert in anyway. A lot of people, I'm sure, will disagree with some of what I had to say here but different thing work for different people. Don't follow only my methods, read other people's as well and make your own decision and choose your own path. I'm only running an affiliate marketing campaign on one of my websites at the moment. I started on the 6th of August late at night so it only made $11.79 but the next two full days the campaign got me nearly $50 each day and today I have $9.79. Most of my sales are made during night time however so $10 by 3 p.m. pacific is ahead of what I've been averaging at this time. Most likely another $50 day finish.
Thanks I know a little is but it still gets over looked. A lot of people don't use affiliate marketing but it is one of the best sources for money. I'll take some screens when I get home. I started my newest campaign on Thursday (around 8 pm) and currently, not even a full 3 days later, I'm at $120+. Yesterday and the day before were $47 days. Very good money for a hobby.
Im still looking for a good marketing site for my site that is easy to use, cos currently....not really working...xD
Affiliate marketing is the best way to monetise in my opinion. So easy to target and convert compared to ppc.
