Saturday, April 01, 2006
One Stop Web Support Newsletter #27 On Its Way
The latest issue of One Stop Web Support Newsletter is scheduled to arrive early Sunday morning, April 2. This newsletter contains:
Jeff
The latest issue of One Stop Web Support Newsletter is scheduled to arrive early Sunday morning, April 2. This newsletter contains:
- Article—Focusing Your Copywriting on the People You Want to Reach
- Review of "The Lazy Man's Guide to Online Business"
- Review of "Garage Sale Strategies for eBay Success"
- Special guest article by Janiece Smith—Improve Your eBay Business 1% and Watch the Cash Come In!
- Success quote by Sam Walton
Jeff
Friday, March 31, 2006
How NOT to Make Money Off an Info Site the WRONG Way
A couple of weeks ago, when I started this series on the many different ways a business can make money on the Internet, I listed three as the ones that most new business owners latch onto immediately:
It can be a proftable business. But there are many scammers who have come up with attempts to beat AdSense and cheat the visitors who come to their sites.
So I've got to start my look at info sites with a warning against the types of products to avoid.
When someone tries to sell you something that promises to create content for you, RUN AWAY.
Autogenerated content is worthless for visitors, often violates the copyright of someone whose content the autogeneration program ripped off, and can get your site banned from from the search engine listings and blocked from using AdSense.
The appeal of autogeneration programs is an illusion of no-effort riches. Autogeneration scammers suggest that you can type a profitable keyword into their product and it will magically spit out page after page of keyword-rich content. They claim these pages will skyrocket your site to the top of the search engines and pull in hordes of visitors to click on your AdSense ads.
I won't go into all the reasons why this doesn't work the way they want you to think it does. I'll just hit a couple of high points.
Number 1, it's dishonest. Autogenerator programs strive to spit out worthless junk that no visitor will find worthwhile. The whole idea behind autogenerated content is to trick the search engines into bringing visitors to the site. The visitors then find the site so worthless that they have nothing to do there but click on the ads.
Number 2, it only works for a short time. Autogenerated content is the number 1 target for all search engine spam filters. Each program leaves an identifiable footprint that the search engines catch on to once they see it for a while. And as soon as they identify a site as being autogenerated, the site is gone forever from the rankings.
If you want to build a lasting business, there's no way to create it instantaneously. It takes time and effort. But a well-planned and well-built info site can be very profitable and can be a steady source of income for years. We'll go into that more in future posts.
Jeff
A couple of weeks ago, when I started this series on the many different ways a business can make money on the Internet, I listed three as the ones that most new business owners latch onto immediately:
- Auctions
- Affiliate programs
- Web stores
It can be a proftable business. But there are many scammers who have come up with attempts to beat AdSense and cheat the visitors who come to their sites.
So I've got to start my look at info sites with a warning against the types of products to avoid.
When someone tries to sell you something that promises to create content for you, RUN AWAY.
Autogenerated content is worthless for visitors, often violates the copyright of someone whose content the autogeneration program ripped off, and can get your site banned from from the search engine listings and blocked from using AdSense.
The appeal of autogeneration programs is an illusion of no-effort riches. Autogeneration scammers suggest that you can type a profitable keyword into their product and it will magically spit out page after page of keyword-rich content. They claim these pages will skyrocket your site to the top of the search engines and pull in hordes of visitors to click on your AdSense ads.
I won't go into all the reasons why this doesn't work the way they want you to think it does. I'll just hit a couple of high points.
Number 1, it's dishonest. Autogenerator programs strive to spit out worthless junk that no visitor will find worthwhile. The whole idea behind autogenerated content is to trick the search engines into bringing visitors to the site. The visitors then find the site so worthless that they have nothing to do there but click on the ads.
Number 2, it only works for a short time. Autogenerated content is the number 1 target for all search engine spam filters. Each program leaves an identifiable footprint that the search engines catch on to once they see it for a while. And as soon as they identify a site as being autogenerated, the site is gone forever from the rankings.
If you want to build a lasting business, there's no way to create it instantaneously. It takes time and effort. But a well-planned and well-built info site can be very profitable and can be a steady source of income for years. We'll go into that more in future posts.
Jeff
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Payment Processing for Your Web Store (part 3)
The third main thing you need in order to sell your products is a payment processor. If you're just starting out, you need look no farther than PayPal. It's quick and easy to set up and it will process payments from all major credit cards.
Once you've built your business up to the point where you can afford the monthly fees of the major credit card processors, you'll likely want to add a direct credit card processing option for your customers. But until then, be glad that PayPal exists to give credit card processing at an affordable price for small business owners just starting out.
Jeff
The third main thing you need in order to sell your products is a payment processor. If you're just starting out, you need look no farther than PayPal. It's quick and easy to set up and it will process payments from all major credit cards.
Once you've built your business up to the point where you can afford the monthly fees of the major credit card processors, you'll likely want to add a direct credit card processing option for your customers. But until then, be glad that PayPal exists to give credit card processing at an affordable price for small business owners just starting out.
Jeff
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
A Shopping Cart for Your Web Store (part 2)
In keeping with my recent posts on making money online with a Web store, the next thing you need for your web store is a reliable shopping cart. A reliable shopping cart is a must. I can't describe the nightmare I had with a cheap shopping cart that a client once had on his site.
He frequently got calls from customers who were unable to order because of problems with the shopping cart. Repeated efforts to track down the problem got nowhere. Finally, the shopping cart stopped functioning completely. He lost who knows how many sales while we first tried to fix it and then redid the entire site to replace the cheapy cart with a reliable one.
The replacement turned out to be a real winner. 1ShoppingCart proved to be not only reliable, but versatile. It doubles also as:
And there's no sick feeling that my client and I have that customers are getting away without us even knowing about it because of shopping cart glitches. Is 1ShoppingCart more expensive than the cheapy shopping cart it replaced? I have to admit it is. But the place where your customers actually hand their money over to you is NOT a place where you want to cut corners.
Jeff
In keeping with my recent posts on making money online with a Web store, the next thing you need for your web store is a reliable shopping cart. A reliable shopping cart is a must. I can't describe the nightmare I had with a cheap shopping cart that a client once had on his site.
He frequently got calls from customers who were unable to order because of problems with the shopping cart. Repeated efforts to track down the problem got nowhere. Finally, the shopping cart stopped functioning completely. He lost who knows how many sales while we first tried to fix it and then redid the entire site to replace the cheapy cart with a reliable one.
The replacement turned out to be a real winner. 1ShoppingCart proved to be not only reliable, but versatile. It doubles also as:
- A client database
- An autoresponder system
- A newsletter publishing system
- An ad tracking tool
- A form generator
- An affiliate management system
And there's no sick feeling that my client and I have that customers are getting away without us even knowing about it because of shopping cart glitches. Is 1ShoppingCart more expensive than the cheapy shopping cart it replaced? I have to admit it is. But the place where your customers actually hand their money over to you is NOT a place where you want to cut corners.
Jeff
Monday, March 27, 2006
Other Essentials for a Web Store (part 1)
Beside products, there are two other essentials for a Web store:
For a website, I know of no better way to go than SiteBuildIt! Sure, I know some people look at the price of SiteBuildIt! and figure they can get their web hosting cheaper. And they can.
What they don't consider, though, is that SiteBuildIt! is much more than just a hosting service. It's also a site-building tool, a web marketing course, and a mentoring program where you have access to a horde of business owners who have already experienced great success. And that doesn't even consider all the built-in technical features, search engine optimization tools, autoresponders, PPC marketing tools, web analytics tools and much more that comes packaged with your SiteBuildIt! site.
Seriously, SiteBuildIt! costs about $100 more per year than a minimum-quality hosting package does. So, for an extra $100, you get a package that gives you all you need to succeed. Try to avoid paying that $100 and you end up with a hosting package that leaves you to figure everything out on your own. And, make matters worse, you end up buying, at at a much higher cost, the tools that you'd get built right into SiteBuildIt!
To me, it's a no-brainer to work with SiteBuildIt!. Trying to save $100 that actually costs you many times more than $100 once you add in all the extra things you have to buy separately.
Jeff
Beside products, there are two other essentials for a Web store:
- A website
- A shopping cart
- A payment processor
For a website, I know of no better way to go than SiteBuildIt! Sure, I know some people look at the price of SiteBuildIt! and figure they can get their web hosting cheaper. And they can.
What they don't consider, though, is that SiteBuildIt! is much more than just a hosting service. It's also a site-building tool, a web marketing course, and a mentoring program where you have access to a horde of business owners who have already experienced great success. And that doesn't even consider all the built-in technical features, search engine optimization tools, autoresponders, PPC marketing tools, web analytics tools and much more that comes packaged with your SiteBuildIt! site.
Seriously, SiteBuildIt! costs about $100 more per year than a minimum-quality hosting package does. So, for an extra $100, you get a package that gives you all you need to succeed. Try to avoid paying that $100 and you end up with a hosting package that leaves you to figure everything out on your own. And, make matters worse, you end up buying, at at a much higher cost, the tools that you'd get built right into SiteBuildIt!
To me, it's a no-brainer to work with SiteBuildIt!. Trying to save $100 that actually costs you many times more than $100 once you add in all the extra things you have to buy separately.
Jeff
© 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Jeff Baas, One Stop Web Support
