Home Business Ideas

Everyday I get emails and phone calls from people asking me “how do I make money online?” I then ask them what it is that they want to do. The response rate 90% of the time is “Make money”.

Then I ask them what they want to do to make money? The majority of the people that I speak to, or exchange emails with, have no idea what they want to do other than “make money”. They haven’t established the fact that they will have to work at something and sell something to “make money”.

More often than not, people have their minds set into some sort if fantasy world where they are thinking, or have been led to believe, that they can make money doing nothing, sitting in their pajamas, playing games on the computer, and the big bucks will role in just like magic.

How can people fall for that B.S.? I just don’t get it. I don’t get how so many can be duped by the Nigerians. It bring to mind that old 1967 movie, the “Film-Flam Man”, and the statement made by the con man, played by actor George C. Scott,  “You can’t cheat an honest man”.

Surveys show that only 29% of Internet users trust the websites that they visit enough to make a purchase. Only 33% say that they trust the websites that are giving advice or reviews about the products they would like to purchase. This doesn’t say much for the online credibility of most web sites

One of the oddities of the times is that there are 58% of the population that were surveyed who still trust and believe in newspapers, television and radio news.

Now, this is the real bazar fact….

There are 47% of the surveyed population that still trust the US federal government in Washington, DC, even with everything that has just occured with our economy. Go figure. It makes me wonder if many of the people surveyed were Washington politicial assistants or PR personnel. (Grin)

Alrighty then.

You have built a fabulous website that offers a a product that you have worked your ass off to produce. Perhaps you are offering a service that runs circles around your competition. Your site is actually getting visitors because you have done your research and have included SEO on your web pages, yet still - no conversion. In other words nobody is buying diddly-squat!

What are you doing wrong?

Who are you? Does any body know? How credible are you? Are you someone to be trusted? Is there a way for your prospective customer to get a hold of you should she have a problem with her purchase?

These are the types of questions that will run through the mind of a potential customer when she is trying to decide if she should buy from you or not.

Why should you be trusted instead of a competitor with a mediocre website? It all comes down to credibility and trust. On the Web credibility rules!

Online credibility is how you are perceived to your viewers. Are you an expert in your field? Are you honest or trustworthy? How your viewers perceive you on the Internet is the key that will make a huge difference in your online business.

What it all boils down to is two main factors of perception:

Are you an expert in your field?
Are you trustworthy?

People will evaluate these two elements subconciously, and combine them to develop an overall assessment of perceived online credibility.

When you are perceived to be an expert in your field you are looked upon as a knowledgeable person with the experience to provide the information that the visitor is seeking.

Establishing an online presence will increase the perception of your credibility.  When your name, your brand and/or your face becomes well known in the circle of your field of expertise, people will begin to perceive you as someone who is credible or trustworthy.

How do you begin building online credibility?

Here are a few examples:

1. Putting photos of yourself on your published works, such as your websites, articles. and forums. People are more responsive when they can establish that you are a real person that they can relate to.

2. Be sure to include contact information and privacy policies on your website. People may not always read them, but they want to know that they are available should they decide to do so.

3. Respond to prospects and clients emails promptly. When clients do not receive a respond for a simple question, your credibility drops conciderably.

4. Using testimonials from happy customers also helps. Even though people know logically, that testimonials can be created, emotionally, people are more receptive to them.

5. Write a short biography to use on the “about me” page and to use with articles that you post. This works the same as putting up your photo. People are more responsive when they can establish that you are a real person that they can relate to.

6. Check and double check your website for spelling errors and broken links. This can be a real big turn off for visitors.

7. Use forums and blogs to your advantage by giving helpful, expert information and leave a link to your website in the signature file.

These are just a few suggestions to begin building online credibility.

Even though, IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) we don’t have a decent candidate to vote for in either the Republican or Democratic parties this election, it is still important to get out there and vote for whomever you believe is the best choice.

In past elections I have often voted for the lesser of the two evils. This is the first time in my almost 60 years that I can’t see a lesser of the two evils in either McCain or Obama. IMHO they are both evil and I can not understand how so many American people are blinded to this fact.

If Ron Paul were still on the ticket I would vote for him. Since he is not I may vote for Cindy McKenney of the Green party. I haven’t decided yet and may not make up my mind until I am actually in the poll booth. One thing for sure is that I am not fooled by either of the slime bags (McCain and Obama) and neither have won my vote. They have both succeeded in alienating it.

Everybody that is relatively new to affiliate marketing is looking for the golden goose that will make them an overnight success and instant millionaire, however there is more to it than that.  It takes dedication, determination and hard work to accomplish your goals and it will not happen overnight, no matter what you may have been led to believe. It can take months and most times years of hard work before actualizing a profit.

Over the years online, there are strategies that have been used that have been successful and these same strategies are still being used today because they work. These 6 affiliate marketing tips will help you to succeed in today’s online world.

1. Have A Your Own Website

Every product that you promote needs it’s own website for promotion. Do not put everything together on one site to save on hosting fees. Your site should focus on the one product that you are promoting and nothing more.

You should have a well written product review as your content and if you have testimonials from other people, all the better to include them too. Do not make your content reviews sound like a sales pitch, but more like a news reporter giving your honest opionion. You can turn your product review into several pages by making each page highlight a separate feature of the product that you are promoting. Remember to add the benefits. WIITFM - What’s In It for Me? It is important to list the benefits as everyone wants to know WIITFM!

2. Give Away A Free Report

Give away a free report, free e-course, free e-book or free consultations in exchange for your prospect’s email address. Give away anything of value free to build a credible reputation and to build a trusting relationship with your subscribers. The form on your page to collect their information should be located at the top of the page, on the sidebar, above the fold, if possible. This way it can be easily seen and not missed.

3. Get An Autoresponder

You will need to have an autoresponder form set up to collect the email information of your prospect. This information is a necessity for you to have in order to send out the free products you are giving away and to follow up with later on. The autoresponder will send your preset follow up messages to everyone that signs up on your form. If they didn’t make a purchase with their first visit to your site, the follow up messages will remind them of the product they were thinking of buying when they landed on your site in the first place.

The follow up messages should not be pushy sales letters, but rather persuasive ones, and should again list the reasons why the product will make their lives easier, better, healthier or more entertaining. WIIFM. You get the idea. You want to use a positive, upbeat approach. You want to inform them that they will be missing out on something fabulous, or meaningful, or a solution to their problem . That this is something they must have to make them feel better, more productive, leaner, smarter, save them time or money. You need to let them know why it is they need to have your product or service.

I have found myself unsubscribing to a newsletter fast, if all I receive are sales pitches without any useful content, so give out really good information that will benefit the subscriber along with your sales pitches. You might want to consider sending them something they can benefit from every 3 or 4 days and a product “reminder” every seven days. Always over deliver. Remember to refrain from using the word “Free” or “make money” in your emails as the spam filters will throw them into the junk or spam mail or not deliver them at all. Yahoo and AOL are notorious for bouncing emails back as undeliverable. Giving a “gift” or a “no wallet necessary” description usually makes it through.

4. Targeted Traffic

To get the kind of targeted traffic that is looking for your product, write articles that relate to it and submit them to the article directories. Remember to add the link back to your website in the bio/response box. That way, people that are interested in your topic will follow your link to your site because they are interested and want to find out more about the subject.

You can also submit short articles to blogs or forums that relate to your subject and post your articles. People that are already reading the blog or are forum members, will follow your link back to your site to find out more.

Try to write 10 articles a week with at least 500 words. Make use of the Private Label Rights e-books and software packages that are sitting on your hard drive collecting dust and rewrite them and repackage them to make them your own brand new products. You could even turn these articles into the report that you are going to give away for free to your subscribers or you could turn them into an e-book to sell later. If you don’t have any Private Label Rights already, then do your research as there are many websites where they can be purchased.

Usually the conversion rate ratio is 1 sale for every 100 visitors, or 1:100, so if you can generate a 1000 targeted hits a day, the odds are, according to the researched statistics, that you will have 100 sales a day.

6. Set Up a Blog

Having a blog can help with creating links to your website. Search engines like blogs because of the constant flow of fresh content that is added. Having links from your blog to your website will help to drive more traffic to your websites. Blogs are also great places to sell affiliate products to add another stream of income to your online business.

7. Set up a schedule for yourself. As an example:

• Day 1 Devote one day to writing your autoresponder messages.
• Day 2 Load your messages into the autoresponder.
• Day 3 Write your articles.
• Day 4 Submit your articles to the article directories.
• Day 5 Submit articles to bulletin boards, blogs and forums.
• Day 6 Work on new product
• Day 7 Rest

Setting up a schedule that works for you will help you to stay focused

These tips are not difficult to accomplish, but they are time consuming, and they do require that you take action and do the work. They will not get done if you keep procrastinating, so set up your schedule, get to work, and then to will begin to see the checks that delivered to your mailbox.

With the terrible, yet expected, turn of events with the global economy, many people are very nervous about what will happen to their businesses and their families income. From the top government politicians to the low income family, everyone is wondering what their future will hold for them. The “writing is on the wall” as the saying goes, yet few have made a business plan to see them through the recession.

Many small off line business owners have relied on credit to run their companies instead of saving portions of their profits to run their businesses. They have failed to make a recession proof business plan. With the economy the way it is today, and with the ability to get credit in a deadlock, many small businesses will fail.

Many of these small business owners neglected to create a workable, recession proof, business plan from the start of their businesses. Because of this, they also did not have the foresight to plan on keeping enough cash flow on hand to offset the inevitable. When the banks don’t have the money to lend, and the small business owner neglected to save any money to run their business, only the worst scenario can happen. Closing the doors to their failing business and declaring bankruptcy.

As an example, I spoke with a woman yesterday who is one of these unfortunate offline business owners that has relied on credit to run her business. Now that the credit is no longer available from these troubled banks she has had to tap into her husbands’ 401K, which has already been seriously depleted with the drop in the stock market. To top it off, she just discovered that her husbands’ job is also in  serious jeopardy.

This woman did not have a workable business plan; nor did she have the foresight to save enough money to sustain her business through bad economic times. Because she had failed to create a business plan that would guide her business, and because she relied completely on credit, her business more than likely will fail. This couple just does not have access to enough cash to keep it afloat. Another bad business decision was to not incorporate her off line business into an online business to sustain them through these rough times.

What does this recession and possible depression, mean for you? Moving your business online, or starting a business online, and becoming an Internet marketer could very well be the answer you have been looking for. Making money online can be pretty much recession proof.

An Internet marketer will need to learn how to be creative with their marketing, much more so than they were off line, but it is relatively easy to learn how to do this. They can learn to promote their business with a much lower cost than they were able to do off line. Discovering the means and ways to promote their products or services, without spending a lot of cash, will prove to be priceless training that will grow their business in both good and bad economic times.

Getting an online education can be daunting,  challenging, and frustrating at times. It can be difficult to find the right resources to get the online education that is necessary, however; once they find the resources that they need, and get their education, they will ultimately become a more successful business owner.

When first starting out it is best to keep the spending habits under control and to a minimum. If the cash flow is already stressed in the off line world, it  would not be a wise decision to stress it even more when first starting out online. Make a business plan and be prudent with the spending. Learn to cut corners with the at home, day to day, living expenses.

Granted, people can be hired to do the online work, however;  if money can be saved by getting an online education and doing the work oneself, it will help to keep expenses under control,  which in turn means that profits can be actualized sooner. Having the knowledge and education to do the work oneself will also give the business owner greater control over the future of the business.

It isn’t too late for small business owners like the one in our example, or for people that are worried about their off line job security. Anyone can get an online education, create a business plan to guide their way, and learn how to start and maintain a recession proof and profitable online business.