Interesting Find--Off the Beaten Path

This is off the beaten path of my journey to a home based business. But I heard about this free web site that pays you for your opinion! Now most sites like these; make you pay a fee. Just wanted to share this one with you. If you happen to find your way to this blog check this site out. It may be a way to make some extra money.

So just click here to check it out. Who knows where it may take you.

Using Adwords

Here is a great tool to use when building you adword's list. And it is free http://www.goodkeywords.com/

Side Note to Walking the Affiliate Highway

1) Join internet forums that deal with topics about affiliate selling, affiliate marketing etc. By browsing topics on these affiliate forums, you will learn which products people are selling, problems people are having (you may have a product or you can find a product that will help them) and other ideas that may help you. Remember others have made mistakes and if you can learn from these mistakes,then you are one step closer to success.

2) Like the Forex market, I have read that 90% of affiliates make little or no money. This may be true but don't let this stop you from trying. Just don't jump into affiliate marketing with your eyes closed. Learn everything you can, find a good niche market, fill the need with a product.

3) You will also hear that you should start off with niches that you know something about. A hobby or something you are very interested in. If this is where you choose to start research to make sure that this niche isn't over saturated.

4) Multiple streams of income is another subject you will hear a lot about. This is a great idea. But a word of advice when you are first starting out, work on one source at a time and get it set up so that it is on auto-pilot. Before move on to the next income source. Or you will have a lot of nothing making a lot of nothing.
That is what I found myself doing with all the products I found on Clickbank and the excitement of starting an online business. Along with reading all the hype of making $$$ a month.

Walking Down The Affiliate Highway!

First I read some articles that said the best thing is selling your own products. Well I don’t have a product and I don’t know what product would sell anyway. You can buy products with resell rights. Just do a Google search on products + resell rights or resell etc. But what do I know about setting up a site to take payments from people. So moving on.

Then almost everything else I read pointed me to Clickbank. What is Clickbank? I would describe it as an affiliate warehouse. A place where people who want product to sell, met people who have products to sell and Clickbank takes care of the payment part. Well this sounded like the answer to all my problems. But Clickbank has over 10,000 different products. Now which one to sell? The question here is 10,000 products and how many people use Clickbank and how many are selling that product you pick. Because you don’t what to pick a product that everyone is selling. On the other hand you don’t want to pick a product that has a bad sales page, which insures that you will be wasting your time and money.

So I looked through Clickbank’s categories and with my mind-set still thinking e-store, I found three possibilities. The first was call CB Mall , the second was 1stPromotion and the third was Dave’s Cool Little Website. All three sell everything listed at Clickbank.

Now all are about the same, so money being a factor I went with 1stPromotion. Now the problem, is that I didn’t and don’t know how to promote this store. So I used an adwords campaign, and I have had about one hundred people go to the mall. And what I have learned is that the one stop shopping doesn’t work for me. You need to find a more targeted product to go to a targeted buyer.

Side note: using adwords to try to target a lot of buyers for a lot of products, is a waste of money. Out of one hundred people there were zero sales. So lets do the math, that is $10 spent and zero sales. For most product if you sale one thing you will make say $25. So if I spend $25 or more and make one sale I’m losing money. The mall is still up and running just have to find a better way to advertise. Get more people there!

All these malls are great! And I have read some very good things about
Dave’s Cool Little Website. But it’s a numbers game.

After stopping my adwords campaign I found these sites that may help:
The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords
Google Adwords Money Pro
To date I have not used any of these adword products, but as soon as I can afford one I will. And I will post how well it works!

I just received a report on how Google figures the bid price for adwords, get your copy here

An Important Tool For Your Business

I feel that this will be one of the most important tools, which you will use in what every home based business opportunity you decide to venture into. The reason I believe this is because so far in my journey, I have signed up for a lot of things. From forums, newsletters, email accounts and a few different programs.

And every time I go to one of these sites I have to enter the web address log in page, enter my user name and password. Now the problem is that at some point, it begins to become a problem trying to remember everything. I started writing them all down, but having to look up this information every time I want to go to one of these site started to take up more and more time.

Now I sure that you could find a few free programs, but this is the best program I found. They have a free program in which you can store ten sites with password etc., but buy the full program when you get pass ten sites.

The reason I like this program is, it stores the web address, user name and password for that site. Then after that all you have to do is find the site in the pull down menu, and it brings you to the log in page and signs you in. The other reason I like this software is that it has a password generator. Which will give you strong passwords.

This software is Roboform . Give the free software a try. It will make your life a whole lot easier.

I found this article below, and if you are going to start a on-line business this may help you. It's a little long but an interesting read.

Your Internet Business and the Law by Stephen Wright

With the number of internet businesses being established on the internet setting new records seemingly every business day, it is no surprise that a growing number of these end with serious business and legal difficulties. A common excuse appears to be a claim of "ignorance to the law" or the fact that many are simply unaware of the existing regulations and laws. Sadly, as you might expect, ignorance is not a recognized defense for the legal requirements.

To protect yourself and your investment, it is strongly recommended that you follow a few basic practices and include legal notices in the content of your website. Generally, there are a few general business notices and a relatively short list of legal notices that if included, will provide basic coverage and notice to outside parties seeking to validate (or dispute) the credibility and legal sufficiency of your website activities.

There are a number of ways to obtain the notices and language needed for these purposes. Certainly, obtaining legal advice is a preferred method, if considered necessary. Without going to this expense, many web entrepreneurs are comfortable by performing a canvass of a given website's competitors. Staying close to the coverage and language of other websites who generally sell the same or similar supplies and services of your site can be adequate. These should be altered and customized as appropriate to fit your specific circumstances (to avoid potential legal issues of copyright infringment). Of late, there are a number of internet websites who provide notice wording and online notice language generation (some free of charge, some on a fee basis). And of course there are software products available for this purpose as well.

As a basic primer into the notices needed, below is a representative sampling of those needed:

GENERAL CATEGORY NOTICES:

CONTACT INFORMATION/CONTACT US: Websites should contain a webpage which identifies various means to contact the company. These include valid email addresses and phone numbers. The new CAN/SPAM requirements stipulate that a full physical address be included as well.

ABOUT/ABOUT US: Websites should contain a webpage which identifies the general company information, including ownership information, historic perspective of the company, etc.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS/FAQ's: Websites should contain a webpage which contains a listing of the most commonly asked questions regarding interacting with the given business. This page is entirely optionally, but can substantially reduce numbers of inquiries and questions by making this information readily available to potential customers in advance.

NOTICES OF A LEGAL NATURE:

EARNINGS DISCLAIMER: Many sales and promotional marketing websites contain specific claims of revenues achieved by owners, affiliates, or others using their products. For these websites, it is recommended that they contain a webpage with statements concerning potential earnings potential and the lack of "guarantees" regarding the amounts used. Any amounts used should be disclaimed as "results achieved by others - and in no way a guarantee that everyone will have similar results", or words to that effect.

DISCLAIMER ON USE OF DATA: Websites should contain a webpage which contains specifics regarding the limitations and liabilities for the use, sharing, or redistribution of data and information contained on your website. Also, for website that include information which may be downloaded by clients, disclaimers regarding limitations of your liability for viruses, spyware, worms, etc., or other calamities incurred during the download are appropriate.

PRIVACY: With the continuing SPAM problems, it is advisable that websites include a webpage which advises visitor's regarding the company's policy for safeguarding any data received from them. This should include the nature of the data gathering, purpose, intended use, disposition, and sharing of any data information obtained. And by all means, ALWAYS follow the stated policy. Website owners should resist the temptation to sell visitor information when the sharing of this data was not properly disclosed at the time it was obtained.

COPYRIGHT: Websites should contain a webpage which contains copyright specifics. This disclaimer is required to alert others regarding the legal standing of your products and services.

Legal Notice Support: To avoid even the potential of legal problems, anyone considering doing business on the internet is required to be fully aware of the rules, regulations, and laws which website owners are required to abide by. As a resource for conducting business within the United States, owners should review basic information at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website. For the latest FTC coverage, visit the following website:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/dotcom/index.html

All website owners must be aware of the laws regarding unwanted email (SPAM). Current requirements mandate the inclusion of a physical address and an "opt-out" method for all email marketing campaigns. Check on all the latest SPAM regulations at the FTC website: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/rules.htm

The requirements are not complicated or impossible to follow. Many agree, they are straightforward, but even so, being aware of the rules and laws, knowing where to go and what the "basic rules are" is absolutely critical. My disclaimer here is: "in no way are these tips and ideas intended to be a comprehensive all-inclusive listing of the legal and business notices needed to run an internet business. These are representative examples only. Legal counsel should be used when in doubt". However, this article is intended to raise your awareness to the issues and prompt you to appropriate action.

Stephen Wright is President and CEO of www.InternetMarketingUSA.com Weary from failed programs, tips, and "make them rich" advice? Get it ALL, step-by-step, the gory details, and the hand-holding to Get Your Rich. It is all waiting for you at: http://www.InternetMarketingUSA.com/pips.html

About the Author

Stephen Wright is President & CEO of www.InternetMarketingUSA.com Would you like to make money online, but don't know where to begin? Here's 3 easy steps that really work:http://www.internetmarketingusa.com/pips.html

So What’s Next: The Big Read

So I stepped back for a moment! I had spent a little more that $25 to take on the last business opportunity. And remember I am on a budget. And with each attempt you get a little more cautious. On my search I came across quite a few e-books that said that they could make me this or that. And I have read a few articles about quite a few people that have bought all kinds of e-books. And yes, more than half were worthless.

I started reading and researching other business opportunities that looked good and pass on a few that were good opportunities. Because I didn't have the funds to get started.

Here are some of the business opportunities I looked at.

*I looked at finding drop shippers and opening an e-store using Yahoo's web hosting.
*Then there was that vitamin web site, but I'm not very good when it come to talking to people. Asking them to go check out my site.
*I even looked at a few companies that you buy the product and they help you get a down-line.
*Everyone's know about the E-bay thing but, from what I hear you have to know what to sell.
*Now this one looked good, I have read some reviews on it, I may come back to it when I can afford to. It called Plug in profit.

Next I checked into some of the stock market software companies that you see on the television and into the forex market. Which looks like a great way to make a living. But is really risky (a lot to learn). They say that 90% of the people investing in the forex lose their money. So moving on!

One day, I came across this article about selling your own products like e-books etc. Farther down in the article it talked about affiliate programs. And just like that, the light bulb came on. Sell other peoples products. I put everything else on hold and started down this road.

Next I'll talk about my walk down the affiliate highway.