Website Creation Essentials - What Do You Need?

by Zaheer Khan..

You can create many different types of websites, so I thought I'd outline what you need to do, depending on the kind of site you desire.
However, before you begin, just understand that no matter what type of site you want to build, you need a domain name and a web host.
You can get both from Website Palace.

As far as building goes, you can use WordPress for almost any kind of website. The key is to install the proper plugins to make the site function like you want it to.
So for example, if you want to sell products from your site, you could sign up with Shopify to manage orders and use their compatible WordPress plugin to embed the "store functionality" on your pages.
A plugin is simply a script that adds on to WordPress and you install it right from the dashboard in seconds.
WordPress comes free with any of the web hosting plans at Website Palace. You just install it once you activate your account. It takes seconds.
No programming or any kind of web design experience is needed. As you'll see in the video below, the template designs come with WordPress, so you simply choose the one you want.

Here's a video that shows you how to use WordPress. It's long, but worth the watch because it will give you a crash course and you'll discover it's pretty easy to use!
Now let's talk about the kinds of sites you can create...

Static HTML/CSS Website

Back in the day, this was the option most people chose because WordPress didn't exist.
A static website means the files are loaded "as is" on the web server. Compare that to a WordPress site where it grabs content from a database (comments, categories, etc.).
So if you just want a very basic website with no comments or additional functionality then you would choose this option.
The advantage of using a static website is that they are clean, load quickly and pretty secure.
The downside is if you want to add commenting options, shopping carts, or other advanced functionality, it can be challenging for the average user.
Nevertheless, if you need a very basic website, this is still a valid option.

Dynamic Website (Blog and Static Content)

By definition, a blog is a site where the content is primarily arranged by category and date.
Now, blogs don't have to be arranged that way. They are just setup like that by default. You can actually organize them more by content like this static website just by changing up the menus.
I discuss this in more detail in my WordPress Starter Guide. All Website Palace customers receive this for free on the order confirmation page.

Creating an Ecommerce Website

This is a website that sells some kind of product, so you will need to be able to accept payments and possibly have some kind of shopping cart.
WordPress has plugins that you can install that give your site more functionality. So if you want to sell products, you would simply just search for a plugin within WordPress to accomplish what you want to do.
Plugins are easy to install. You do it right from the WordPress admin panel as explained in the video above.
So let's say you wanted a shopping cart, you could install this plugin, integrate it with a PayPal account and you're ready to begin taking orders! Just like that.
Shopify is also another very popular ecommerce solution.

Membership or User Interactive Sites

If you want to create a website that has some kind of membership or user interaction/uploads/downloads, then you might want to consider Joomla. Just like WordPress, you can install this right from your hosting control panel.
Joomla is a lot more complex to use than WordPress, in my opinion. Yes, it's more powerful than WordPress, but I didn't find it to be as user-friendly.
If I were starting a membership site, I would use WordPress and search for plugins that accomplish what I need. Here's one right here.
Plugins have evolved so much in the past few years, that more people are using WordPress for almost any kind of website these days.

WordPress is Flexible

What I hope you understand is that you can use WordPress to create almost any kind of site you wish. The key is in the plugins. You can do a Google search for almost any type of plugin you wish and install it. What's even better is that most of them are free!
Say you want to sell advertising from your site, you could install a plugin like Kamoona that will allow you to manage the advertising.
Or maybe you want to add some social networking buttons/icons to your website. There's tons of plugins for that as well. Again, it's just about searching for what you want to do and once you learn the basics of WordPress then your options are endless!

Don't Want to Pay for Your Website?

So many people come here looking for a free website. I can tell you that I've been burned pretty badly by free hosts in the past and it's why I never recommend them.
First of all, the site is not yours. You are renting it from another company. So they can remove your site at any time.
Two days ago I received an email from a guy who needed my help because his site was suddenly removed from Blogger. There was nothing he or I could do.
When you don't pay for your site, you have no control over what can happen to it. Not to mention, free hosts look unprofessional and you are limited to what you can do.
For example, you cannot install plugins on Blogger like you can on a WordPress site. So it's difficult to integrate any other kind of functionality.
And if you're thinking of starting free and moving, that's not a good idea either. Why? Because quite honestly, moving a website is a pain in the you-know-what.
It's better to create it right from the start, and with hosting being as cheap as it is (compared to what it used to be), it's worth investing in your site.

How Websites Make Money

You're probably here because you want to make some money with your site as well. Here are some articles you may find interesting...
Affiliate Marketing - Make money referring products from your site
How to earn with Clickbank - A complete tutorial
Read more articles about making money online here.

If you liked this, please share. Thanks!

How to earn with Clickbank - A complete tutorial

A Beginner's Guide to Clickbank

by Zaheer Khan

Clickbank can be a very lucrative affiliate program because the commissions are incredibly high. Some are as high as 75%.
Because the products are digital (ebooks, digital products, etc.), there are no distribution costs, so that's one reason Clickbank can afford to offer such a large share to their affiliates.
Here is a screenshot of my earnings as posted on the sales page of my eBook Niche Website Success...

.

In my opinion, Clickbank is far better than most book affiliate programs because the commissions are much higher. And because the products are digital, there is no shipping and handling, so they can offer higher commission to us affiliates.
Below I'm going to show you how to get started with Clickbank and understand a bit more about the interface so you can get the most out of your efforts.
Just don't be fooled. I don't care what anyone tells you or how inspired you may be by someone's earnings, making money online takes time, effort and lots of patience. This is not something you can do in a few weeks.

How to Join ClickBank

Joining is easy and it's free. Just click the Sign-Up link from the top of the Clickbank homepage. Once your account has been created, you can begin promoting the products on your website.

Searching For Products to Promote

To search for products, click the Marketplace link at the top of the ClickBank homepage.

From here, you can search for products by either category or the search feature.
So for example if you search for "stocks", this is one of the products that appears in the results...


To view the sales page of the product, just click the red title.
This particular product pays $11.78 per sale on average. Now, it's important to note that the amount you earn per sale may not match that number exactly due to upsells, sales tax, chargebacks, etc. However, this will give you an idea of what you can earn.
Check out the Stats information at the bottom of the result. This provides more details about what you can earn.
Notice the Initial $/sale stat is much lower than the average $/sale. This particular vendor offers several products, which is why the initial sale stat and average sale prices differ.
Average %/sale means the average commission for this product is 45% per sale.
The Avg Rebill Total of $8.09, indicates this is a recurring billing product and that's the average amount the affiliate earns. So not only can you earn for one sale, but you will also earn for any customer re-bills. This is how your income can really add up over time.

Obtaining Your Affiliate Link (Hoplink)

Once you decide on a product you want to promote, click the green Promote button alongside the listing. You will be presented with this form.

In the Account Nickname box, enter the ClickBank ID you created when you setup your ClickBank account, and add a Tracking ID if you want to keep track of where the sale is coming from.
For example, if you are promoting a specific product in a newsletter, you could use newsOct2013. ClickBank will add this ID to your affiliate URL so you can track how many sales came from this specific link.
So now when you go to the Reporting section at the top of the page, you can view your sales by Tracking ID to see how effective your campaign was.

After you've entered your account nickname and optional tracking ID, click Create and Clickbank will give you the link to promote on your website.

Best Ways to Promote ClickBank

Niche Websites/Blogs
There's no doubt that a niche website is the best way to promote Clickbank products because you will know more about your audience and you targeted traffic converts much better.
Then explain how the product has worked for you and why you readers would love it.
As I teach in my affiliate marketing course, when you can show that you actually use the product, it adds to your credibility and will increase your conversion rate.
Email
Email marketing is also an effective way of promoting products. Be careful, though. You don't want to continually pitch products to your subscribers. That's not a good strategy.
Just like with your website, you should aim to provide nothing but quality, and promote products on occasion.
Use your list to inform your audience of important site updates, special news and provide exclusive offers. Weave in relevant product links every so often.
Social Media
If you have a large following (especially if it's very niche), you can also make money promoting products via social media.
Just remember, you can turn your followers way off by being overly aggressive with affiliate links. However, a casual, relevant mention here and there is fine.
And you don't even need a website to promote Clickbank products. You can just promote the hoplink I showed you how to create above.
However, I've always found it to be more effective to mention products within articles rather than just promoting affiliate links by themselves.
So instead of just tweeting a link to a product you are promoting, tweet a link that provides a relevant how-to article that includes a link to the product in the copy. That's a much better strategy.
What About Article Marketing?
ClickBank recommends article marketing on their tips page, but I honestly don't think this is a very effective way of marketing today.
Not only has it lost much of its SEO value, but most people who go to article marketing sites are not looking for information, they're marketers looking to get traffic to their own articles.
I'm not saying there is absolutely no value in article marketing, because there may be some -- especially with very tight/defined niches. However, I believe it is an expiring marketing strategy.

Using Banners to Promote The Products

If the product you are promoting has banners you can use, there is usually a link to the affiliate program located at the bottom of the main sales page. This is where you can often find banners for your website.
For example, for my ebook, Niche Website Success, there is a link to the affiliate page at the bottom of the landing page. That's where I provide the code for affiliates to add banners/links into their sites.
I personally haven't had as much success with banners as I have with contextual links. Banners seem too promotional to people. I find that casually mentioning a product via a link in an article is much more effective.

Don't Promote Crap!

Because ClickBank has no screening process for the products people can sell, you can run into a lot of low-quality products that were thrown together.
It may be tempting to focus on the amount you will earn per sale, but don't put greed over quality because it will hurt your reputation.
I only promote products that I have personally purchased myself. While the commission amount is something I pay attention to, the actual quality of the product comes first.

Selling Your Own Digital Goods on ClickBank

Clickbank makes it incredibly easy to sell your own products. So if you've been thinking of creating an ebook, for example, you can use Clickbank as the vendor.
All you do is upload your product to your website, create your sales page and sign up to be a vendor. The cost is a one-time fee of $49 and they take 7% of every sale you make.
You can set your price and choose what percentage you want to offer for your affiliates. Once your product is live in the Clickbank marketplace, your affiliate links are automatically created for you.

eJunkie is another egoods marketplace that you also may want to consider. I believe Clickbank has the better overall affiliate system, but eJunkie lets you create discount codes and does not take any money per sale. However, they do charge $5/month. So eJunkie and Clickbank both have their pluses and minuses.

How to Create an eBook

If you want to learn how to create an ebook in Microsoft Word and upload it to your website for selling, check out the video.

Creating eBook Covers

I create my ebook covers with Photoshop using a program called Cover Action Pro. However, if you don't have Photoshop, there's an easier and free way to create them using MyeCoverMaker.

Creating Sales Pages for Your eBook

If you're a WordPress user, there are some pretty cool plugins out there to help you create stylish landing pages to sell your product.
OptimizePress is a quite popular, and it was specifically designed to create sales pages and increase conversions. I've never used this plugin, but plan on trying it out for future projects.

Clickbank is Not a Scam

I've heard people say that Clickbank is a scam because they don't ever make any money, but here's the deal. No matter what program you join, it takes work to convert your traffic into sales.
I have been an affiliate for Clickbank since 2000 and have never had any problems getting paid. They pay every month like clockwork and it goes directly into my checking account.

Clickbank is Not a 9 to 5 Gig

The biggest misconception about making money with a website is you can estimate your earnings based on hours invested.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. How well you do directly depends on how much targeted traffic you have (people who are searching or interested in your topic). And that could take weeks or months depending on how efficient you are.
You could put 30 hours into your site marketing it on Twitter, but if you don't learn how to use social media effectively, those 30 hours could be a total waste.
So it's not about estimating how much you can earn based on hours spent. Understand this is a business and it's about working smart, not necessarily the amount of hours you put into it.
Everyone's results will vary so don't get caught up in how long this will take. It's impossible to estimate that.

In Summary

I hope this was a helpful overview for those of you who are new to Clickbank. As you probably see now, it's by no means a get-rich-quick program. You need targeted traffic to convert sales, and always promote products you know, like and trust.

Download My eBook or Take My Course

Check out my guide Niche Website Success. It provides a comprehensive overview of how to make money with a content niche website. Great for beginners! Or you can enroll in my affiliate marketing course if you prefer video.
If you liked this, please share. Thanks!

Ways to Make Money on the Internet

by Zaheer Khan.

There are several ways to make money online. Hopefully this article will help you decide which method is best for you.

Need Money Quickly?

Before you even read this article, please watch my video below about having the right mentality before you begin.
Too many people come to this site looking for an "easy" or "quick" way to make money and there is no such thing.
That's why so many people get scammed. They buy some product promising instant riches, only to realize it's a bunch of hype.

1. Become an Affiliate

This was the first way I started making money online and I still do today. It's super convenient! As an affiliate you refer your audience to various company websites, and when a sale is made you earn a commission.
You are the middleman (or middlewoman) so you don't have to deal with customer service, taking orders, etc. The companies you become affiliated with provide you with a tracking link to use to link to their site. That's how they track how many sales you've generated.
Almost all affiliate programs are free to join. It usually involves filling out a sign-up form and within moments the company sends you the links you need to use on your site or blog.
The key is to choose a subject you love (hobby, passion, topic, etc.) and build a content-rich, informative site or blog about it.
Here's an example. Say you love fishing. You could create a "how to" site on fishing that provides all the tips and techniques one needs to become a successful fisherman.
First, read up on SEO (search engine optimization) to l how to get your pages ranked high in Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. You'll also have to work on other ways to build traffic.
Then you'd make money by joining affiliate programs that offer fishing related products. Link to these products from your site and earn commissions when your visitors buy through your links.
For example, Clickbank has a very generous affiliate program. Many of the products there pay up to 75% in commissions.
You can also earn money from programs like Google AdSense having other Webmasters advertise on your site. The possibilities are endless! Thousands of people (including myself) make a living from affiliate marketing.

2. Sell Your Own Product (Hard Goods)

This is often the most common method people think of when it comes to making money online. In fact, many people think it's the best way to earn a solid, long-term income.
I do agree that it can be the most lucrative approach, since having your own product means you directly control how much profit you make.
However, there can be some headaches with this method. For example, you are in charge of everything. Selling your own product means you are responsible for customer service, collecting orders/payments (credit cards), developing and shipping the product, etc.
Note: Thanks to companies like PayPal and WordPress plugins, collecting payments is no longer the headache it used to be.
In addition, it's usually a good idea to setup some kind of business name, although it is not necessary.
Selling a product can be a lot of work, especially if you're new to marketing. However, once those sales start rolling in, you can build a steady, long-term income.

3. Sell Your Own Product (E-Goods)

An e-good (short for electronic good) is a digital product that can be easily transferred or downloaded via the Internet.
No need to worry about running out of inventory because the digital format rewards you with an unlimited supply of your product!
Lots of Netpreneurs sell e-goods because they are much easier to manage. You don't have to ship the products. Customers can either download the product immediately after ordering, or they can be sent via e-mail.
E-books are the most common type of digital good sold on the Internet. They are often created with software like Adobe Professional (PDF) and then uploaded to the Net with ease.
Jim Edwards created a useful guide that shows you how to create your own e-book in 7 days.
When I bought the book, I had to admit I was a little surprised. I am normally very suspicious of these "how to" books because they often contain regurgitated facts you can find anywhere on the web for free.
This book is different. I had no idea it would be this detailed. There are 522 pages (with lots of screenshots) of practical advice on content organization, pricing your ebook, selling it on Amazon, designing your cover and more.
Jim left no stone unturned. On page 225, he even gives specific advice on how to pace yourself so you can make good use of your time and meet your completion goal.
He devotes the last few hundred pages to pure Q&A so you can obtain answers to questions about formatting, graphics, offering bonuses and more.
Jim also gives excellent advice on how to pick the right topic. So if you're thinking, "I don't know enough about anything to write a good book." Think again. I bet Jim will change your view and fill your head with ideas.
I highly recommend getting this book if this option entices you. You can download the book right after you order. Click here for details.
I actually sell digital products (eBooks and templates) on Clickbank. My WordPress Tutorial and Niche Website Success books are both sold on their marketplace.
The nice thing about Clickbank is they take the payments for you and all your products will have an instant affiliate program attached so others can refer your products on their sites for a commission.

4. Start an eBay Auction

Who doesn't have excess stuff they need to get rid of? A lot of people make money on the internet by opening up an eBay auction site and selling things from their home.
With this method, no website is needed. All you need to do is sign up for an eBay account and go from there.
I won't even pretend to be an expert on this subject. I'm an affiliate marketer at heart so I'll let the eBay experts have this one.
Speaking of experts, John Thornhill wrote a book on how to profit off eBay and become a successful PowerSeller like he did.
You may find this book useful if this is the approach you want to take. Nothing like learning from someone who has actually been there, done that.

5. Sell a Service

Are you a writer? Web programmer? Consultant? Do you perform any sort of service? If so, you can sell your services right through Elance.com.
What's cool is that Elance facilitates the entire work process from hiring to collaboration to payment. In other words, they will connect you with people who need you!

6. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is where the retailer does not keep goods in stock, but instead transfers customer orders and shipment information directly to wholesalers, who then ship the goods directly to the customer.
So let's say you want to sell handbags from a certain company. You would buy the products at the wholesale price, collect the money from your customs and the manufacturer then ships it to them.
WordWideBrands.com is a company that helps you do the research to find what people are buying, tells you where to buy it and finally how to sell it.

Need More Ideas?

This is just a small listing of the various ways you can make money online. You can do so much more, but these are some of the most common options.
If you want to see even more examples of successful websites earning money online, see this site.

Ready to Start Your Site?

Learn how to register your domain name - the first step to building a website.
thank you if you like my article  then comment and shere please..

Ways to Make Money on the Internet

by Zaheer Khan.

There are several ways to make money online. Hopefully this article will help you decide which method is best for you.

Need Money Quickly?

Before you even read this article, please watch my video below about having the right mentality before you begin.
Too many people come to this site looking for an "easy" or "quick" way to make money and there is no such thing.
That's why so many people get scammed. They buy some product promising instant riches, only to realize it's a bunch of hype.

1. Become an Affiliate

This was the first way I started making money online and I still do today. It's super convenient! As an affiliate you refer your audience to various company websites, and when a sale is made you earn a commission.
You are the middleman (or middlewoman) so you don't have to deal with customer service, taking orders, etc. The companies you become affiliated with provide you with a tracking link to use to link to their site. That's how they track how many sales you've generated.
Almost all affiliate programs are free to join. It usually involves filling out a sign-up form and within moments the company sends you the links you need to use on your site or blog.
The key is to choose a subject you love (hobby, passion, topic, etc.) and build a content-rich, informative site or blog about it.
Here's an example. Say you love fishing. You could create a "how to" site on fishing that provides all the tips and techniques one needs to become a successful fisherman.
First, read up on SEO (search engine optimization) to l how to get your pages ranked high in Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. You'll also have to work on other ways to build traffic.
Then you'd make money by joining affiliate programs that offer fishing related products. Link to these products from your site and earn commissions when your visitors buy through your links.
For example, Clickbank has a very generous affiliate program. Many of the products there pay up to 75% in commissions.
You can also earn money from programs like Google AdSense having other Webmasters advertise on your site. The possibilities are endless! Thousands of people (including myself) make a living from affiliate marketing.

2. Sell Your Own Product (Hard Goods)

This is often the most common method people think of when it comes to making money online. In fact, many people think it's the best way to earn a solid, long-term income.
I do agree that it can be the most lucrative approach, since having your own product means you directly control how much profit you make.
However, there can be some headaches with this method. For example, you are in charge of everything. Selling your own product means you are responsible for customer service, collecting orders/payments (credit cards), developing and shipping the product, etc.
Note: Thanks to companies like PayPal and WordPress plugins, collecting payments is no longer the headache it used to be.
In addition, it's usually a good idea to setup some kind of business name, although it is not necessary.
Selling a product can be a lot of work, especially if you're new to marketing. However, once those sales start rolling in, you can build a steady, long-term income.

3. Sell Your Own Product (E-Goods)

An e-good (short for electronic good) is a digital product that can be easily transferred or downloaded via the Internet.
No need to worry about running out of inventory because the digital format rewards you with an unlimited supply of your product!
Lots of Netpreneurs sell e-goods because they are much easier to manage. You don't have to ship the products. Customers can either download the product immediately after ordering, or they can be sent via e-mail.
E-books are the most common type of digital good sold on the Internet. They are often created with software like Adobe Professional (PDF) and then uploaded to the Net with ease.
Jim Edwards created a useful guide that shows you how to create your own e-book in 7 days.
When I bought the book, I had to admit I was a little surprised. I am normally very suspicious of these "how to" books because they often contain regurgitated facts you can find anywhere on the web for free.
This book is different. I had no idea it would be this detailed. There are 522 pages (with lots of screenshots) of practical advice on content organization, pricing your ebook, selling it on Amazon, designing your cover and more.
Jim left no stone unturned. On page 225, he even gives specific advice on how to pace yourself so you can make good use of your time and meet your completion goal.
He devotes the last few hundred pages to pure Q&A so you can obtain answers to questions about formatting, graphics, offering bonuses and more.
Jim also gives excellent advice on how to pick the right topic. So if you're thinking, "I don't know enough about anything to write a good book." Think again. I bet Jim will change your view and fill your head with ideas.
I highly recommend getting this book if this option entices you. You can download the book right after you order. Click here for details.
I actually sell digital products (eBooks and templates) on Clickbank. My WordPress Tutorial and Niche Website Success books are both sold on their marketplace.
The nice thing about Clickbank is they take the payments for you and all your products will have an instant affiliate program attached so others can refer your products on their sites for a commission.

4. Start an eBay Auction

Who doesn't have excess stuff they need to get rid of? A lot of people make money on the internet by opening up an eBay auction site and selling things from their home.
With this method, no website is needed. All you need to do is sign up for an eBay account and go from there.
I won't even pretend to be an expert on this subject. I'm an affiliate marketer at heart so I'll let the eBay experts have this one.
Speaking of experts, John Thornhill wrote a book on how to profit off eBay and become a successful PowerSeller like he did.
You may find this book useful if this is the approach you want to take. Nothing like learning from someone who has actually been there, done that.

5. Sell a Service

Are you a writer? Web programmer? Consultant? Do you perform any sort of service? If so, you can sell your services right through Elance.com.
What's cool is that Elance facilitates the entire work process from hiring to collaboration to payment. In other words, they will connect you with people who need you!

6. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is where the retailer does not keep goods in stock, but instead transfers customer orders and shipment information directly to wholesalers, who then ship the goods directly to the customer.
So let's say you want to sell handbags from a certain company. You would buy the products at the wholesale price, collect the money from your customs and the manufacturer then ships it to them.
WordWideBrands.com is a company that helps you do the research to find what people are buying, tells you where to buy it and finally how to sell it.

Need More Ideas?

This is just a small listing of the various ways you can make money online. You can do so much more, but these are some of the most common options.
If you want to see even more examples of successful websites earning money online, see this site.

Ready to Start Your Site?

Learn how to register your domain name - the first step to building a website.
thank you if you like my article  then comment and shere please..

How to Make Money With Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the process of promoting another company's products or services for a commission.
This is one of the ways I've been making money on the Internet since 1998.
I love affiliate marketing because it's a very simple, transparent model for earning an income online. It's not about joining some pyramid scheme where you have to recruit people to sell random products (I really hate those programs.)
You create a useful, themed website that provides information, and then casually recommend products that are related to your topic.
Let's say your site is about reviewing plasma TV's. You could join Best Buy's affiliate program and earn a commission when someone purchases a TV based on your site's referral.

See How Affiliate Marketing Works.

A Quick Affiliate Marketing Tip

The key to finding success with affiliate programs is to build a content-rich website with useful information centered around a specific topic or theme.
Don't just haphazardly throw up a quick site or blog and string a bunch of affiliate links all over your pages.
You have to start by building credibility. And the best way to do that is to write about something you know a lot about.
Instead of hard-selling, the key is to subtly recommend products and services that fit in with what you are writing about in your content.
It's also a good idea to own the products you promote so you can speak intelligently about them and appear more credible to your audience.

Affiliate Programs/Networks I Use

I am an affiliate of many networks such as Commission Junction, LinkShare, ShareaSale, SpreadShirt, Clickbank, Amazon and more. It's really not about the network, it's more about the relevant products that you promote on your website.
So if you are creating a website about babies, you would search the various affiliate networks and look for products that relate to the theme of your website. Grab the affiliate code from your account, paste it into your site and you can begin earning from the referrals in your articles.

It's Not About The Program

People ALWAYS ask me which program to join in order to make the most money, and that's a question I will never, ever answer.
It's NOT about the program because you could make a killing with any program. What matters is if the program is relevant to your site or not.
If you are seeking out the most profitable program, you're already starting off on the wrong foot. It's about finding programs that match whatever your site is about.
I could tell you that I make $2,000/month with one program on this site, but if your site is about cooking or some other topic, obviously that program is not going to be relevant to YOUR visitors. So of course, your income would be a lot lower than mine.
So be careful about comparing your potential results with other people.
If you can generate enough traffic, you can sell almost anything on your website. So don't get caught up in the specific affiliate program. Focus on the topic of your site and search for products that fit your site's content.

I offer more specific advice about finding the right topic and succeeding as an affiliate in my course here.

If you liked this, please share. Thanks!

Need Help Choosing a Website Topic?

by Zaheer Khan

Have you bought a domain name yet? Be sure to grab one so you can begin building your site. All new customers will receive free ebooks!

Topic choice is a big decision when it comes to creating websites. It's quite tempting to go for the big idea, right?
After all, wouldn't you love to be the one who invented FaceBook, Twitter or YouTube?
It often seems so simple. Just come up with a cool idea, build a site, sell it for millions to Google and you'll be rich!
That's not exactly the case for most people.
While this idea has worked for a handful of people, the average story doesn't go quite like that. Which is why I wanted to create this all-important page on topic choice.

Don't leave without checking the important 

Looking to Make Money?

If your goal is to make money with your site then I always recommend the simple approach.
I know many of you would love to create something like the next Facebook, but this is just not realistic for the average person. Mark Zuckerberg is a programmer. He also came up with an idea that was original and had the technical expertise and support to launch and maintain it.
Trying to compete with a site like that today is a very tall task... not to mention the server space and technical know-how you would need to manage it.
Yes, these sites look cool on the surface, but there are a lot of hidden headaches the average person does not see.
So what do I mean when I say "the simple approach?" I'm encouraging you to do what I've done since 1998.
I don't own any fancy Facebook-like websites. I don't have a lot of Web programming skills yet I make a comfortable living from the earnings of this website.
I simply create sites on topics that interest me, draw in traffic and make money from affiliate programs and ad programs like Google AdSense. I also sell ad space and my own products like my WordPress tutorial.

Here's an Example

Say you love to prepare desserts. You could create top-notch-cake-recipes.com where you offer all your favorite cake recipes. You'd create your site and then spend time learning about SEO (search engine optimization) so your pages get found in Google, Yahoo, etc.
Demonstrate your cooking techniques on YouTube and develop a following. You can even make money as a YouTube Partner. Also, build a Facebook page and interact with your audience to help build your brand further.
On your website, you could make money from Google ads and refer other products that your audience may find interesting (affiliate marketing). For instance, you could join Target.com's free affiliate program and refer some of their cookware.
Target (or any affiliate program) would provides you with the links to put on your site and you would earn a commission on every sale your site refers.
An affiliate site like this is much easier to create and maintain than some large, programming-intense Facebook-like website. You could manage the site yourself with a program like WordPress.

Determine if Your Idea is Profitable

Before you settle in on a topic for your website, you should always check the search engine keyword competition and demand.
Search engine traffic can be one of the best forms of free traffic out here because it's so targeted and converts well. So you want to analyze the market and pick good keyword phrases to target.
In other words, should you target the phrase "cake recipes" vs. "chocolate recipes" vs "low fat recipes", etc? That's what keyword research will help you decide.
The idea is to choose topics that have a good demand (number of searches per month) and minimal competition.
There are many tools online that can help you determine this. The Google Keyword Planner is one of the most popular because it's free.
If you want to do some serious research then you may want to invest in Long Tail Pro which will provide a more thorough analysis of keyword demand and competition.

Avoid The "How to Make Money" Topic

This is a big trap many newcomers fall into. If they can't decide on a topic they choose the make money online idea since they want to make money themselves.
It's always a bad idea to choose a topic that you have no experience with. Unless you have the proof you are making some cash online and plan on showing people how you've done it, then you run the risk of creating a site like the millions of other "how to make money online" sites out here.
Not to mention this niche is overly saturated and you'd have a hard time generating traffic. Have you ever searched for make money online in Google?
There are millions of sites on this topic so competing in this niche could be a complete nightmare for you -- especially if you don't have anything new and fresh to bring to the topic.
Watch my video below for more reasons why this is such a bad idea...

Why is Topic Choice So Important?

You must understand. Sites that do well online are sites that have their own unique spin on a certain topic. The content is well written, updated frequently, the Webmasters understand the basics of Net marketing and they know their audience.
These are all things you must execute well if you want to become successful, and it will not happen overnight. So this is one reason topic choice is crucial.
You have to be patient while waiting on that traffic to come, so you might as well choose something that will keep your interest or you'll get bored and abandon your site.
And don't worry about what others are doing. Just because you see someone making millions with one topic, don't think you have to do the same thing or even something similar.
The reason that person is so successful is because of the points I mentioned above. Their passion for the topic is driving their creativity thus generating success. If you chose that same topic you might not be as motivated because it's not your "thing."
I know it's tempting to copy someone else's successful idea but it's really a bad idea for most people.
Now it's time to choose what peeks your interest and develop your own personal spin on it. That's the first step to being successful out here, so I hope you take this message seriously.

Not to Discourage You, But...

The goal of this article is not to discourage you from creating a complex, interactive site. If that's something you have your heart set on then go for it.
I just want you to understand what's involved. You can't just buy a software program, download some template and create an interactive site like FaceBook or YouTube.
Extensive, hardcore programming is required. So you'll either have to learn yourself or pay someone else BIG to do it for you.
It's much better to start small and simple with a site like I described above and once the traffic and money starts coming in, then you can expand to something more robust and complex.
It will save you a lot of money and headaches if you do it that way.

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How To Build a Free Website That Makes Money Without Any Coding

How To Build a Free Website That Makes Money Without Any Codingby Zaheer Khan 

I’d been hearing snippets of talk about a company that offered a way to make a website without programming. Then I heard that they make it dead easy to add all sorts of money making content on your site, without you having to go sign up for affiliate programs. Then I heard that you can get this for free. Even better, you can attach your own domain name to the site and effectively get free hosting. Seriously.
DevHub is the site I’m talking about. So I went to check it out and make my own revenue generating site. I was very skeptical that any sort of website making application could turn out anything that looked and ran decent at all. For years I worked with various content management systems like Red Dot, Joomla, WordPress and Spectra. All of them required some degree of programming to make a decent web site.
Here’s how you can make your website.

First, go to DevHub and begin the sign up process. It’s a very easy thing to do. Just look on the homepage for the very obvious button.

From there, it asks you for some typical sign-up information: first name, last name, e-mail address. Nothing too intrusive. Again, very easy. At this point you can choose your own sub-domain or let DevHub know that you are going to use your own domain. I went the subdomain route, because although I love my dear readers, I’m not buying a domain name just for a demonstration.

As you can see, the site has a very distinct Web 2.0 feel. Typically I don’t care for that sort of design, but it works extremely well, when the application functions simply and smoothly.
This is where the money making begins. On this page, you can choose what kind of revenue generating modules you’d like to include in your website. I decided to use all of them, for testing purposes.

So there you go, some of it is affiliate revenue, and some of it is pay-per-click (PPC) type advertising. I’m guessing that DevHub sets up these relationships and then takes a slice of whatever your page makes and passes the rest on to you. Sounds like a decent business model to me. I just wish I had thought of, and executed, the idea as well as DevHub did.
Next, you pick out the physical layout of the site. One column with header, two columns with header and so on. each layout has it’s own strengths and weakness, so try to think about how you want your content laid out before doing this step. There’s no need to overthink it though, because you’ll see that changing the layout is also brilliantly easy.

Then you can choose your colour scheme. DevHub has really simplified the process by making most of their colour schemes simple and limited. By doing so, the site will always look good and take the burden of designing off of you.

Now that that’s done, you’ll be asked to read and agree to the end user license. It seemed pretty straightforward to me, even though it’s a bunch of legalese. You should read it for yourself  and if you have any questions, talk to a legal professional. I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the web.
On to the final editing of your cash cow site. DevHub presents you with a mock-up of how the page will look, but with some AJAX elements to help you tweak it more.
You can change the number of columns. There are only three choices, but really anything more than three columns is just cluttered looking and will lose you readers.

You can drag and drop elements on the page to reposition them. The green shows you where the element will land if you drop it right now.

You can tweak what the module will show. In the Search Keyword field you can add more than one word. I just went with one, for efficiency. In the City or State field, I don’t know if non-North American cities or states show up. Give it a shot, I’m pretty sure they would. This helps you REALLY target your advertising to your specific audience, increasing your chances to make a few bucks.

You can add MORE modules or widgets. Be careful with this! Some people think that if they pepper their site with enough ads, they’ll get clicked more often. Not so. What will happen is your site will die, penniless and alone.

And, finally, the part that really matters, you can add or edit content without knowing a thing about HTML or any programming language. The Content Module has most of the editing features you might find in a word processing program.

Once you’ve got all that set up, you can preview your site to see just what it would look like. Not tooo shabby, eh?

Of course, it would look better if there were some real content in there. However, I think this illustrates pretty well the ability of DevHub to help you build a website that is monetized, looks decent and is free! That’s the trifecta right there, folks.
Naturally, this all begs the question. How much can you make with a DevHub website? Well, I don’t really know. That’s pretty much up to your ability to market the site and drive visitors to it. Then, hopefully, they like what they see and click on a few links and maybe buy some affiliate products. Yes, you could probably make more if you set up your own affiliate and PPC relationships on your own website, but how many of us can make a decent website on our own?
Let’s say you only make about a hundred bucks a month from your site. That’s fairly high for a new site, but it can be done. It’s not that much is it? However DevHub allows you to set up 10 different sites for free. So, if you can get each site to generate about a hundred bucks, that makes for a thousand dollars a month! Not enough to quit your day job or retire, but maybe it helps pay off the house a little quicker or helps you save up for a down payment.
Keep in mind the entire process from start to finish took me less than ten minutes. Instant web presence and not a dime out of pocket. There you have it folks! Don’t thank me, thank DevHub.
Do you have any experience using DevHub? Are there other apps out there like this (or better) that give you free website and lets you monetize it? How’s your monetizing process been going? Drop us a line below.

please leave your comment in the bellow box..

Tips on Making YouTube Videos and Understanding How Rankings Work

by zaheer khan

YouTube is a wonderful platform to gain more exposure for your website and build credibility for your overall brand.
In my opinion, it is one of the most underutilized strategies when it comes to marketing a website.
The traffic potential is still pretty sweet. Just as someone could type in "golfing tips" in Google.com and find your site, they can do the same with your videos on YouTube.
And if your video gets popular enough, it can also rank well on Google.com.
More and more people use YouTube every single day and this can funnel quite a bit of traffic to your video... especially if the video is exceptionally done.

Tips for YouTube SEO (Ranking Your Videos on YouTube.com)

I have a handful of few videos that rank #1 for some fairly competitive keywords.
So after analyzing the ones that rank well and the ones that don't, I've come up with some tips to help you with your own rankings.
Check out the Infographic below, and there's a more detailed explanation of the tips below the image.

Popularity Trumps Everything!

How many Likes and Shares your video receives plays a big role in how your video ranks.
Obviously, YouTube wants to show the most popular content, so they tend to rank videos well that have a good View/Like ratio.
The dislikes don't really seem to hurt as much as long as the number of likes outweigh the dislikes.
So don't get too down in the dumps if your videos receive some dislikes. It comes with the territory. Just focus on quality and you will naturally earn those likes.
So as you are reading the tips below, keep in mind they won't matter as much if no one likes and shares your videos.

Find Good Keywords to Target

There is a hidden gold mine of traffic on YouTube if you target less competitive keywords. Many people don't realize this.
Here is a video where I show you how to use SEOChat's tool to find keywords to target.

Audience Retention is BIG Today!

How long people watch your videos play a HUGE role in rankings now. And it makes perfect sense why it's such a big deal.
If people sit and watch a video to the end, it must be interesting and deserves a better rank than related videos that only have a 10% retention rate.
Statistics show that people have an attention span of about 3 minutes when it comes to watching a video.
However, that doesn't mean you should never make a video longer than 3 minutes.
If you create a lot of tutorial-based content then it's generally acceptable to bend this rule a bit. In fact, many of my longer videos rank very well and have decent retention.
The key is to keep the video moving and use lots of titles to break things up.
In my more recent videos (like the one on SEO), I use a Draw Tablet to make the longer, tutorial videos more interesting. People seem to really enjoy it.
However, sometimes it does make sense to split videos into several parts. I should probably do this more often myself.
People's attention spans continue to decline, so we need to be mindful of that when creating our videos.
You can track the Retention stat right from your account by going to Analytics >> Audience Retention. This will give you your overall channel retention.
If you want to view your retention for an individual video, you'll have to click the Analytics button while watching the video in question.
One final note about retention...
It's definitely relative. For example, I have videos with low retention yet they rank well. This is likely due to the number of Likes and how the retention compares to related videos.
So having poor retention doesn't mean your videos won't rank. YouTube definitely looks at the big picture and how your videos match up to others.

Optimize Your Titles, Descriptions and Tags But Don't Over Do It!

Just like Google.com, YouTube.com is harder to manipulate than it was years ago.
Titles, descriptions and tags still matter, but you aren't going to rank well for competitive phrases if your videos don't get the Likes, Shares, have great Retention etc.
So, you could copy the meta data for a very popular video and still never rank if no one is rating or sharing your video.
Ratings and social shares are EVERYTHING when it comes to ranking now.
When creating your title, description and keyword tags, keep them relevant without overoptimizing.
For example, let's say you want to rank for "How to Make a Birthday Cake."
Do this...
Title: How to Make a Delicious Birthday Cake From Scratch
Description: Easy-to-follow tips for making a birthday cake your guests will love. Recipe included.
Keyword Tags: how to make a birthday cake, birthday cake recipe, dessert, chocolate cake
Notice that I don't repeat any phrase too often and I also included extra words in the title.
Ever since Google implemented the overoptimization and "exact match" penalties in 2012, I noticed they seem to like variation (especially for competitive phrases).
So I try to add additional keywords instead of just the phrases I want to rank for.
Also, don't dilute your important tags by adding a bunch of unnecessary phrases that aren't really related to what your video is about.
You don't need 100 tags. Just 5-10 very relevant ones will do.
Now, here's what NOT to do...
Title: How to Make a Birthday Cake - Tips for How to Make a Birthday Cake!
Description: How to make a birthday cake. Great video for how to make a birthday cake from scratch. Make a birthday cake today!
Keyword Tags: how to make a birthday cake, how to make a delicious birthday cake, how to make a cake, birthday cake, desserts, chocolate, sweets, birthdays, icing, cooking, how to cook desserts, birthday party, birthday parties
That's called over-optimizing.
No need to repeat your targeted phrase over and over. And forget about adding all those semi and unrelated phrases because you are diluting the important ones.
Just like Google does with web pages, YouTube probably places less (or zero) emphasis on the keyword tag. But it still never hurt to use it responsibly.

Freshness is Another Big Deal

YouTube.com now mirrors Google.com when it comes to fresh content.
It used to be that old videos would rank well for years, now it seems that videos have a shorter ranking lifespan (unless it's a very popular video or the targeted phrase is not very competitive).
If you notice some of your videos no longer rank as well, create an updated version. There's probably new, relevant information to share anyway.

Do Captions and Transcripts Help for SEO?

There's been some debate over this. Some say they help, others say they don't because it would be too easy to manipulate.

If you learn anything about SEO, whether it's YouTube or Google, understand that ANY tactic that can be easily manipulated, will have a minimal impact.

Having said that, if all things are equal between two videos, (Like/View Ratio, shares, etc.) and I were YouTube, I'd favor the one with the captions. So why not add them?
Whether they help your videos rank or not, it never hurts to add them for the user experience.

Publishing Your Videos on YouTube

Computers and cameras are making it easier and easier to get video on the Web. No need to buy additional software just to get your video in the right format. Today many cameras come with a direct YouTube upload feature.
As far as files and editing, YouTube accepts all common video formats and your computer probably already comes with free editing software. Windows comes with Windows Movie Maker and Macs come with iMovie.

What I Use to Create My Videos

I use a Macbook to edit and publish my videos. My software of choice is Final Cut Express.
It's a bit pricey compared to many other solutions, but it's very powerful. If you want to learn more about my video creation process,

More Video Production Tips

1. Have adequate lighting.
Make sure people can actually SEE you. What are you hiding anyway? ;-) Three point lighting is best.
2. Don't memorize a script...
Avoid this unless you're good at delivering where it doesn't sound like you're talking from memory. I've found if you just talk off the top of your head, it comes across much more conversational and natural.
If you need a guide and want to remember key points, have an outline in front of you (out of the camera's sight). If I do use one, I'll tape it right below the camera so I can glance down if needed.
3. Don't Ramble.
Do your best to get to the point. If you start rambling for 10 minutes about nothing, you could lose your audience before the video is finished.
This is something I've struggled with and now do my best to get to the point earlier in the video.
4. Check your backdrop.
Remember, this video is representing you and your site. If you've got a junk heap behind you, it will distract your audience. If you don't have a nice background, then just film in front of a blank wall.
5. Watch your filler words.
We don't realize how often we say "Um" and use filler words until we see ourselves on video. It's normal to need a sec to think about what to say next, so practice just being silent in those moments if you are an "Ummer." :)
The other option is to edit out those words before you publish. This will make your video much cleaner.
6. Record and edit in the same resolution.
Ever wonder why some videos are distorted or have those black bars alongside the video? That comes from recording and editing in two different resolutions.
Check your camera and editing software to make sure they match before you produce the video.
I always record and edit in 1280x720 HD. Yes, YouTube accepts higher resolutions now, but I find this resolution still produces a nice quality video without generating a huge file size that takes forever to produce in my software.

Worried About Criticism?

If you're like a lot of people, you are hesitant about creating videos because you're concerned about being judged or criticized. I know the feeling. I was worried about that in the beginning too. But the more videos I made, the more comfortable I became.
This video has some words of encouragement for you, and it will help you deal with the fear of criticism.

The Bottom Line

No matter what method or software you use, it's definitely worth experimenting with video to help promote your site. And since YouTube is owned by Google, that can only mean good things if you make a good video and optimize the title and keywords for your audience.
Just like Google.com, YouTube can bring you a good amount of targeted visitors.
And if your video is good enough, others will want to embed it into their sites or link back to it. The backlink can also help the ranking on both YouTube and Google.
If your videos do earn enough likes, YouTube will recommend them on the homepage or suggest it to people who have watched related videos.
I earn the majority of my subscribers because of YouTube recommending my videos.
So how do you get people to "Like" your videos?

1. Know your audience and keep them relevant
2. Be conversational and relax.
3. Edit out umms and awkward pauses to make the video flow
4. Avoid unnecessary chattiness and keep it moving
5. Get to the point early
6. Break up longer videos into parts or use tools (draw tablets) to make longer videos more visually appealing

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How to Make Money on The Internet (Free Guide)

How to Make Money on The Internet (Free Guide)  By zaheer khan

If you are wondering how to start making money online with a website, this is the page for you!
Please take time to read this article completely because it will prevent you from making so many of the common mistakes newbies make when trying to earn money online.
In fact, many people trip up in the very beginning because they don't take the time to plan and understand how websites generate traffic.

Choosing a Profitable Topic

I wish people would spend more time in this area. I believe that failing to understand the importance of researching and narrowing down a topic is a big cause for failure.
A profitable topic is one that has a great deal of demand (searches) and minimal supply (existing sites). And one way to determine how profitable a topic is to start with the search engines.
Sites like Google and Bing are great barometers for supply and demand because so many people use them to find information.
So before you jump in feet first with your "great idea" you need to stop and think about how people are going to find your site.
They don't just stumble upon websites because they are on the Internet. They find them through things like search, social media and word of mouth.
This is important to think about because if your idea involves building an online store or a membership site and you have absolutely no existing audience or brand awareness, you will need a plan to generate traffic... and lots of it!
Even if you are not planning to build a site like this, you still need to read the following info because it applies to any kind of website.
Yes, a lot has changed with regards to websites since I started, but the one thing that continues to rule is quality, targeted content. The more you build that focuses on a specific audience, the better off you'll be in the long run.
The reason I used the online store and membership sites as an example is that's where people make the biggest mistakes due to how people search the web.
You've got to establish a funnel of traffic to your site first and I'll talk more about that below.

Understanding Ranking on Google

A lot has changed over the years, so it's not nearly as easy to rank in Google as it was years ago.
However, most people never give themselves a chance because they make classic errors in the beginning. I don't want you to do the same.
Narrow down your topic to something very niche (meaning you target a very specific audience like woman who play golf or recent college graduates looking for a job.)
The more niche your topic is, the easier it will be to get some kind of targeted traffic from Google because your content will be very focused.
Come up with a very specific topic or even a problem and then target people who need help.
If you are trying to build a website that will rely on user activity (membership, social/interactive sites) it's best to start by building a content site or blog that is related to theme of your website in order to drive traffic to it.
If your site is dependent upon people joining/being active, you need lots and lots of traffic because the majority of people who join will not remain active. It's important to have a large pool of traffic to funnel to that site.
Here's another mistake many people make...
They begin their journey by trying to build a membership, store or interactive site and put all this energy and money into customizing it and making it look pretty, but they have absolutely NO IDEA how to drive traffic to it.
I'll say this again...
People don't just stumble upon your website because you have a great idea. There are billions of sites out here authored by people with "great ideas", so it's going to take some work to get your site some visibility.
So let's say you want to build a social networking site that targets teen parents. Rather than quickly launching your network, first build a content hub to draw traffic to it.
That's because it's much easier for a content site to get ranked in Google than an interactive website.
Remember, the engines LOVE themed content.
Let's say you were a teen parent and you want to sell a book that helps other teen parents.
Start by building a website or a blog thats full of advice for teen parents. The more specific your niche is, the greater the chance you'll generate targeted traffic that will be interested in your content.
Compare a website that targets teens to a site that targets teen parents. First of all, it would be very difficult to rank well for "teens" in Google because it's such a very broad phrase.
Not to mention, if your site were to get found by such a broad word, you wouldn't know what your visitors wanted. That would make it very difficult to target products and services to them.

Keyword Research

So before you begin your site, start by using a keyword tool like The Google AdWords Planner or Long Tail Pro (what I use) to find out exactly how people are searching for your topic.
Go for long-tail keywords, which are phrases that are less competitive. Sure, not as many people search for these phrases, but they are easier to rank for because there's less competition.
You can watch me use The Google Keyword Planner below...
As far as the numbers go, I like my primary keyword phrase (main idea) to have at least 2,000-5,000 global monthly searches. But I also look at many of the related keywords to make sure there are enough phrases with at least 4-digit monthly searches.
I don't get caught up in the numbers. Even if the phrase is lower than my idea range, if there are a variety of related phrases with decent demand I'll still consider the topic.
Don't let the numbers paralyze you. Also check out your competition by searching Google for various keywords and analyze your ability to compete. If the majority of the sites are similar or less than stellar, the topic may not be as competitive as you think.
Now, let's say I had chosen to search for the phrase teenagers instead.
The global monthly search volume is 74,000. That may sound great because there's a lot more traffic potential. However, the phrase teenagers is way too broad. You won't know anything about what the person is searching for.
Again, it would be harder to target your content and products to such a broad audience. It would also be harder to gain a top 10 ranking for that competitive phrase.
So once you've taken the time to identify a niche, congrats, you are light years ahead of most people who often rush and assume they have taken the best approach simply because they have a "great" idea.
I hope you understand now that having an idea for your website isn't enough. You need to research the demand and have a plan for how people are going to find your site.

Make Providing Value Your #1 Priority

No matter what kind of website you plan to create, the one thing you have to think about is providing value and developing a unique angle.
So if you are trying to sell a book you wrote on how to handle teenage pregnancy, you'd write a plethora of useful content that teenage parents will value.
For example, you could create a blog that offers emotional support and advice for teenage parents -- or more specifically teenage moms.
Providing valuable free advice is one of the best strategies for making money online because it builds up credibility and warms your visitors up to buy products that you're trying to sell.
People often begin their quest by putting up ads for the products they want to promote. The problem is they haven't taken the time to build up their credibility so getting that sale is so much harder.
Remember, your visitors don't know you from Adam, so you're going to have to earn their trust. And when you build a website that encourages, educates, informs and provides an extreme amount of value, people are much more open to supporting you and buying products you sell or recommend.
Whether you're trying to sell other people's products (affiliate marketing) or your own, you have to establish that trust factor first.
So before you become obsessed with making money, first plan out a way to let your content do the PREselling for you.

• Build trust by giving away unparalleled information that your readers won't find anywhere else.
• Identify your visitor's main problems and provide solutions
• Be transparent and show your #1 priority is to help, not make money

Building Your Website

The method you use to build your site really doesn't matter in terms of success. Any kind of website can become successful. What matters is what's best for how you plan to deliver your content.
Most people today choose to use WordPress to create their websites, and that is fine if you want a website that pumps out newsworthy articles on a specific topic.
Think PerezHilton or TechCrunch where all the latest posts are highlighted and sorted by date and category.
You can actually use WordPress to create a more traditional layout like this, but it takes some tweaks here and there. I talk about this in my WordPress guide.

Making Money With Google AdSense

Google AdSense is one of the most convenient ways to monetize a website -- especially if you plan on building a site with a lot of content.
This free program allows you to add Google ads to your pages and when an ad is clicked, you earn money.
While the concept is easy, making money with AdSense is not if you don't have a lot of targeted traffic. That's another reason it's important to take time narrowing down your niche prior to starting your site.
If making money with AdSense is a priority, you'll also want to take time to make sure there are enough related ads for your niche.
Google makes this very easy to do...
1) Perform a Google search for the topic or keywords you plan to target and look to see how many sponsor ads show up above the results and on the right side of Google.com.
2) Use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner (you must have an AdWords account first). When you perform a keyword search, the tool will show you the average cost per click.
This shows you how much advertisers are paying Google per click. As an AdSense publisher you will get roughtly 68% of that amount.

So this will give you an idea for what kind of earnings are available for keywords in your niche.
Now, of course your earnings are going to depend on your traffic and how many people click your ads (1-3% is typically the average).
NOTE: Years ago, it was quite easy to make a substantial amount of money with AdSense. Times have changed. While you can still make hundreds or even thousands per month, you should treat the income as bonus money as opposed to trying to make a living with the earnings.

Creating an eBook or Other Digital Goods

An electronic book (eBook) is a great way to monetize your website. If you have a program like Microsoft Word or Pages (Mac), you simply write your book in the software and use a converter to convert the file into a PDF.
Then you can easily sell your book by using vendors like Clickbank or eJunkie.

Selling Products Online

If you have tangible goods you'd like to sell then you can integrate a shopping cart into your website through a service like Shopify.
The cool thing about this option is you can sync it up very easily with PayPal and begin collecting orders for whatever you want to sell.
So whether or not you use WordPress or whatever site building platform, Shopify works in conjunction with it because there are plugins available to help you implement the service.

Selling Ads From Your Website

Once your site begins to get traffic, you may want to think about selling 3rd party ads on your pages.
If you don't want to deal with scripts and manually installing your ad system, you can outsource something like BuySellAds. All you have to do is paste some code into your pages and they will manage the ad inventory for you.
Of course, the downside to using a 3rd party is you have to share more of your revenue with them. It's really best to host your own ad management system.
If you plan to use WordPress there are many solutions. I used to use OIO Publisher, but you can also use the BuySellAds WordPress plugin as well.

What About Setting Up a Corporation? Do You Need One for Your Website?

Check out this article that discusses what you need to know about registering your business and setting up a corporation.

Need More Guidance?

I have a variety of courses on different topics. My affiliate marketing course is the most comprehensive because it covers website building and making money passively by recommending other company's products.
It also explains how to build authority and authenticity so you can profit online with any kind of site.
See all my courses here.

Ready to Start Your Website?

To build a website, you need to choose and register your own domain and then sign up for web hosting.
If you want to learn how to make passive income with affiliate marketing, take my course.
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