All Entries in the "Internet Marketing" Category

Make Money Online By Being Helpful To Others

I get asked about this all the time. People I know offline and people I know online ask me, What is the best way to make money on the web? My answer is very simple, but always requires more explanation.

BE HELPFUL

Be helpful? What does that mean? I don’t get it. Hunh? are a few of the responses to my answer, so of course I will explain.

Let’s say you want to establish yourself as an expert in your field. One great way to do so is to join forums that are related to your field. Introduce yourself and give a little history when you first join so people know a little about you.

Then browse through the forum and look for questions people are asking. Answer their questions as fully as you can. If you do not know the answer, use the search engines and find out what the answer is. Be courteous when answering. Provide links to where they can find out more information and confirm your answer.

This accomplishes five things. 1. You were helpful. 2. You may have learned something new by looking up the answer. 3. You now have a bookmark for a website you may need later. 4. You have established yourself as someone who can provide answers. and 5. Other people saw how helpful you were.

#5 is probably the most important of all. Some people read your answer, saw how helpful you were, and probably visited the website in your signature and are now a potential customer.

Whenever someone calls you, emails you, or comments on your blog with a question, take the time, make the time, to answer them even when it doesn’t make you any money. Once people start taking your advice, most will help you in return and won’t mind helping you make money later.

Sign up for affiliate programs that pay well. Things you know the people you deal with might need, like web hosting, web design, seo, etc. When people are asking your advice, ask them if they need hosting or whatever. If they say yes, ask them to use your affiliate link to sign up. It costs them nothing. It makes you money. And since you have been so helpful, they do not mind helping you make a little money.

Make sure the places you refer them to are actually good companies. Again, you are being helpful by referring them to something worthwhile and you make money doing it.

Learn how to search the web. I don’t mean just going to Google and typing something in. Learn advanced search methods and other sources besides just search engines to find what you are looking for.

Once you know how to really search the web, you can be even more helpful. You will be able to find things other people cannot find. This valuable skill can make you more helpful to others and make you more money.

If you provide a service or product, provide free consultations and offer free information for your potential customers. Find non-competing services, products, free coupons, and other things that you know your target audience will also be interested in.

Take a little time and find these things for the people you wish to do business with and you will soon learn how much they appreciate you and want to do business with you.

So many of us get busy and view some of these things as a waste of our time. I could be talking to a paying client right now instead of this person. I can’t believe this person keeps asking me questions and they haven’t even bought anything.

Yes, you do have to find the right balance, because you do have a business to run. But taking a little time each day or each week to just be helpful to others or adopting an overall philosophy of being helpful will make you more money in the long run than only focusing on “What’s in it for me”.

Some people you help won’t appreciate it at all. They may turn out to be a total jerk after you have given freely of your time and expertise. But that is their problem, not yours, and they will wish they still had you to help them later. Most people you help will respond in kind and appreciate your efforts.

They will refer their friends to you and whenever possible, they will choose your services over another provider, even if the other provider offers it at a better price.

So, how do you make more money on the net?

BE HELPFUL

What Are The Best Ways To Promote An Online Dating Website?

This is an SEO Discussion about online dating websites. I plan to have several SEO discussions on particular niches and hope you will respond so we can get a discussion going that will help others learn how to promote their niche websites.

I’ll start by saying that Social Networking has to be involved with any online dating site, but how should they work places like Facebook, Twitter, Digg and others? What are some specific tips for a social networking campaign that promotes online dating?

What are some other things the person that asks about the best ways to promote an online dating website should know?

There will be people who are running or starting an online dating site reading this, so I don’t mind if you promote your own services that apply to their needs. Don’t be spammy is all.

Is Your Captcha Costing You Business?

I understand the need for putting a captcha below a form or at the login page and even for downloads pages. Keeping spammers out is a chore that makes captchas necessary.

But are you doing any tracking that shows you how many of your users are having trouble with your Captcha?

Is it too difficult?

Are your potential visitors just deciding not to sign up because your captcha declines them the first time?

Have you decided not to use a Captcha at all because you think visitors won’t like them?

The best example of Captchas gone bad is Yahoo. I’m not sure I have ever gotten Yahoo’s Captcha right the first time. It’s like one of those posters where you stare at it just right and it becomes a picture of something else.

Then, even after you are logged in, you have to do their Captcha for every change you make to your profile. Yes, annoy me as much as possible and I’ll continue to use your program. Good marketing philosophy. Way to go Yahoo.

How have you utilized Captchas at your website?

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Google and SEO Hater Video

I was sent a link to this video by a friend. This guy, Ryan Deiss, hates Google and says all of the SEO experts he has dealt with have ripped him off. He says he has the best source of traffic there is and that Google is afraid of them.

He’s talking about Facebook ads. Watch the video then come back and make a comment to tell us what you think about what he says in the video. You can find the video here.

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Partnerships Vs. Sole Proprietorships

Can you make more money with a business partner or as a sole proprietor? I’ve done it both ways and I can honestly say that I did better when I had a partner. There are pros and cons to doing it either way, of course.

I work better alone. With my type of personality you would think that I’d prefer to be in business alone, and most of the time I do. But I’ve learned that a partner who has strengths that you don’t have can offset your weaknesses. No business is perfect, but a business that utilizes people’s strengths and positions them in strategic positions to help the company grow can succeed in many ways that a sole proprietor cannot.

Do you agree? Do you prefer to work alone or do think a partner can help you grow more?

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What Will Be The Dominant Online Marketing Tool In 2010?

If you look back over the years, you’ll see that there have been different methods of marketing online that have dominated from year to year. In 1995, if you had a website then you made sure you were listed in Yahoo!s directory. In 1997, you tweaked your meta tags and tried to get listed in Alta Vista. In 1999 you were trying to get backlinks to impress Google. In 2003 you tried to make sure that your website content had all the right keywords in the right amounts.

Then there was e-mail marketing, social bookmarking, MySpace, blogging, Facebook and Twitter, viral marketing, video marketing, mobile marketing, and the list goes on.

What do you think will dominate in 2010? What Internet marketing methods will capture everyone’s attention and take off like a bat out of hell?