Recent Posts

Pages: 1 [2]

Writing / 20 Sites That Pay You to Write Articles Online: Get Paid to Blog About Anything

« Last post by MikeDstar on September 18, 2017, 06:51:38 pm »

Yes, you can make money writing even if you’re not a professional writer.
Whether you have just dropped out from the workforce, are a full-time housewife struggling with the household budget, a student looking for a part-time job, or whatever your situation may be, freelance writing represents legitimate opportunities that you can exploit while you work from home.
And the great news is that the opportunities are plentiful and ever-present. Online businesses are always looking out for freelance writers to create contents for their websites or other online publications. The job could cover a wide range of skill set, from entry-level to experienced workers.
Online businesses are always looking for freelance writers to create contents for their websites or other online publications. The job could cover a wide range of skill set, from entry-level to experienced workers.
The job could cover a wide range of skill set, from entry-level to experienced workers.
Earn Free Cash
Try Swagbucks, the famous rewards program that pays you for watching videos, taking surveys, shopping and more.
Join Swagbucks Now to Get $5 Free
The two factors that determine your compensation will be the quality of your article, and of course, the terms on offer from the hiring party.
For the purpose of this article, I have compiled the different sites and techniques I have used throughout the years to earn extra money on the side writing articles online.
These should work just as nicely for you as they had been for me.
How These Sites Pay
Some sites pay you instantly after they get your submission, and some will pay you based on the performance of your article when it goes live.
Each of these options has its own pros and cons, but they both require effort and commitment on your part.
Let me explain both of these options a little more…
I’ll explain both in more detail.
1. Upfront Payment
The more interesting option for me is the so-called “Upfront Payment.”
This is an arrangement where the website your write for pays you once you submit the article and they accept it.
Since this is a prepayment arrangement, how your written article going to fare in the search engine rankings or how many page views your work is going to help generate would not influence the payment. In short, there is no string attached upon submission of the agreed articles.
2. Performance Payment
The first option for getting paid as a writer is through what’s known as the “Performance Payment.”
As the name suggests, the amount of money you earn from each article varies based on how it performs, or more precisely, how much traffic it gets.
With performance payment which is also known as revenue sharing, earning comes from ads and affiliate links placed throughout the page where the article resides. The total earning is then split (usually 50/50) between the host site and you (the writer).
Get Paid to Write Articles Online
If you are ready to make some money writing articles online, here are some sites you can use to get started.
1. Wow Women on Writing
As the name suggests, Wow Women on Writing is focused on content related to women. There are different payments for various types of articles they accept.
Here is what the site pays for different type of content:
Need Extra Cash for Free?
If you like getting paid for surveys, and are going to join only one site, I would recommend you choose Ipsos-iSay. Ipsos is the most fun and well-paying panel. Give it a try to see how you like it. It is free anyway!
Click to Join Ipsos Now!
How 2 (1,500 – 2,000 Words): $75
Inspiration (1,500 – 2,000 Words): $75
Feature Interviews (up to 3,000 Words): $75
Feature Articles (up to 3,000 Words): $150
2. CollegeHumor
CollegeHumor is one of the biggest humor sites on the web.
If you have a funny article, submit it and they will pay you $35 for a single page article, and $50 for a larger multi-page article.
3. The Daily Heckle
This is a site that focuses on the news and happenings around the world with a little humor.
You have two options:
1. Sign up as a writer for the site and earn $5 to $20 for every article you pitch that gets published.
2. Or, you can write as a freelancer. Every day, they put a list of topics that they need articles for on their famous “The Heckle Workshop” page. Browse the topics and chose the ones you like to write about. Payments varies based on the topic/article.
4. The Daily Tackle
This is the sister site of TheDailyHeckle.
If you are a news junky and can write satirical and spoof news stories that can make people laugh, this site is for you.
They pay between around $8 per article, and if the article manages to receive 25,000 unique page views, you get an extra $25.
5. Love To Know
LTK is another site that pays up front payment for your articles. You can write about topics like Money & Finance, Shopping, Fashion, Beauty, Technology, Home Improvement etc.
You can expect to earn anywhere between $15 to $50 per article.
They pay via PayPal.
6. About.com
About.com is one of the most popular and visited sites in the world with an average monthly visitors of about 55 millions. You can make very good money if you become an About “guide”. But you have to be really good to be approved.
7. ****
This is a humor site that pays up to $100 for funny stories. The good thing is you are not limited just to written content, you can create videos, photoshops and infographics.
8. Hubpages
Yet another site that shares advertising revenue. It is highly popular with netizens and you’ll earn money through Adsense and by being an Amazon affiliate. Capitalize on your pet subjects and slowly build up hubs.
The site enjoys huge patronage so it is entirely up to you to drive traffic to your hubs.
9. Bukisa
Bukisa is a lot like Helium, but it’s more focused on how-to style articles. You can write on just about any topic you can imagine. The earning comes from displaying ads alongside your published articles. You are paid via PayPal.
10. Triond
They have a publishing networks with a whole bunch of sites in it. Once your article is approved, it gets published on one of the websites in their network. Money is earned through ads displayed on your article pages. They also pay via PayPal.
11. InfoBarrel
Again, you have total control on the kind of articles you want to submit here. They promote advertising sharing so you need to have an Adsense account in order to receive your split.
There seem to be other ways of monetization of your articles but I am not really that familiar with those arrangements.
The plus side of this site is that the content out from InfoBarrel generally receives good ranking with various search engines, so that is an assurance of decent traffic if you write well.
12. Snipsly
I call this the Mickey Mouse version of InfoBarrel. They share the revenue from advertising with you through Adsense. But over your, the article length can start anywhere from 150 words up. If you are a prolific writer, you are able to submit more works on the same time-frame.
13. Writer Access
Once you are approved, you will be graded with their unique star system by taking a test, which determines how much you get paid per word.
Here is a break down of how much you get paid per 100 words depending on your star level:
2 Star – earn $1.61 for 100 words
3 Star – earn $2.73 for 100 words
4 Star – earn $4.27 for 100 words
5 Star – earn $5.46 for 100 words
Once you have earned $10 you can request a payment.
14. Freelance Writing Gigs
This is an all-encompassing website. Here they will dispense advice on readying one to become a competent freelance writer, while posting fresh jobs everyday.
If you are just getting started, this is a great site to get started with.
15. TextBroker
This is yet another fabulous site make money off writing. It doesn’t impose on stringent criteria so newbie writers may like this site better.
The payout ranges from $3-$8 per article. They generally accept articles of shorter length, and in my opinion, this represents an excellent opportunity to boost up your productivity.
The site is not restricted to just individual freelancers, as they are open to both companies and entrepreneurs. Again, you go to the archive and choose to write articles that would be of interest to them.
Payment is done twice monthly through PayPal for work approved by them.
16. iWriter.com
Here writers are divided into 3 main categories (i.e. Standard, Premium, or Elite).
A Standard writer can expect around $2.43 for a 500 words article. Elite writers are the ones that are paid sometimes $25-30 or more for a 500 words article.
17. ProBlogger Job Boards
This is effectively a job board for writers. Here, new jobs are posted almost on daily basis. Stick around here if you find your work volume need to be boosted up.
The topics here could vary a lot. You could be writing blogs on major sporting events or simply do up a review on your experience using a specific product.
18. Craigslist
This may not be your conventional source of paid written work, but there are occasional writing assignments posted here that pay well. I once chance upon a work where I was required to write 10 short articles every week for a stretch of 2 months. The work concerned my experience on article marketing.
My compensation was $100 a week, so you just do the math throughout the 2 months duration. I put 2 hours a week aside for this assignment and I must say it was a pretty generous payout.
Note:
The sites listed below were part of the original article, but they no longer work for the purpose of this article. We keep them here for archival reasons.
19. Yahoo! Voices – Formerly Associated Content (No longer exists)
In all frankness, how the working of the site is going to pan out is yet unclear as Yahoo just recently acquired this site. According to a press release, they said that nothing will get changed. If that is true, the site is still willing to accept articles of all sorts.
Writers can choose from upfront payment, performance payment or anything in between. For upfront payment, the amount they can commit to is usually no more than five dollars. So keep this in mind.
There is also a bonus scheme when you receive payment after every 1000 page views. Naturally if your article is able to generate sustained interest, this could be a nice way to build out your cash pile over time.
Nowadays, I use this site only sparingly, but there is no harm for you to check them out.
20. Squidoo (Merged with HubPages)
Squidoo is one of the biggest revenue sharing sites where you can write about almost any topic. You earn money through Amazon affiliate links, Adsense ads, etc.
One good thing about Squidoo is that getting traffic to your article is much easier since Squidoo lenses (Lens is what they call an article) tend to rank in Google a bit easier than articles from other sites. You are paid via PayPal.
21. Helium (No longer the same company)
Helium is one of the very first sites I ever tried when I was starting out. Not only you can You can earn money in a few ways: incentive payments, exclusive assignments and performance bonuses.
22. Break Studios (No longer exists)
Everyday there is a list of titles that you can choose from to write your articles around. The best thing about this site is that every article earns you $8 regardless of the length. Your article can be as short as 250 words and as long as a 700 words.
You are paid at the end of each month via PayPal for every published article.
23. Demand Studios (No longer exists)
Chances are you are aware of their existence but do you know that the pay out for every article is between $7-$15 (sometimes in excess of $30)?
This is not a place where free-form writing is all the rage. Instead, your work has to conform to certain guidelines. The nice thing about this site is that you simply focus on work that interests you.
If that is not easy enough, they have a library of over 1000 titles so you can take your pick from there. Say you are some sort of DIY guy, you probably can write an article on how to do things, detailing every step and process along the way.
The content from Demand Studios can go to several different sites, so that would maximize your reach. One site you should be familiar with is ehow.com. Payment is made twice-weekly through PayPal, of course for work that has been approved.
24. Blogging.org (No longer the same company)
This is a rather new site where blog owners go to find content for their blog. You can make money here by writing blog posts. Expect anywhere from $1.50 – $20 per article.
25. Vocal
Vocal rewards its users on a per-view basis – the more views your posts receive, the more you are rewarded.
Writers can monitor their posts’ – and their wallets – performance via the Internal Dashboard and cash-out through the secure Stripe payments.
The platform has something for all genres of writers – science fiction, relationships, health and wellness, travel, music, and more.
There’s no flat fee – your posts will accumulate money today, tomorrow, or five years from now.
A Word on Blogging
My favorite means of getting real income as a writer. The control you can exercise here is absolute. It would not turn you into an overnight millionaire, but I suggest you would dedicate some time daily to bring it up to speed over time. Until then, it may still be worth your while to continue to explore other income avenues.
More and more writers have taken to blogging to supplement their income. And the nice thing is that they just focus on topics that are close to their hearts anyway, rather than seeking high and low for fresh and unfamiliar content.
Tip
You will need to expand your marketability in order to earn more. It does not hurt if you pick up a variety of writing styles such as AP, Chicago, and MLA.
At the same time, experiment on other natures of writing content. I say you should try everything from eBooks to business and SEO articles, press releases to interviews, and blogs to product reviews.
Wrapping up
You can, of course, use other freelancing websites like Freelancer.com, eLance, and Odesk to find writing gigs to work on.
Another great place to find clients is webmaster related forums. Most forums have a classified section where you can start a thread offering your services. Webmasters and bloggers are always looking for quality writers on these forums.
Forums like WarriorForum and DigitalPoints are two of the hottest webmaster related forums where I personally know a few writers who make their living by offering their article writing services to forum members.

Source: http://moneypantry.com/make-money-writing-articles-online/

Blogging / 4 things nobody tells you about blogging

« Last post by MikeDstar on September 16, 2017, 12:17:36 pm »

A lot of people don’t recognize and hardly understand the intricacies of blogging. Some go as far as dismissing it as some kind of hobby, rather than recognizing it as the business it is. Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency, shares 4 things nobody tells you about blogging.
Blogging is Not Some Get Rich Quick Scheme
It’s nice to hear about blogs that charge thousands and hundreds of thousands for publicity or adverts of any kind. But what most people don’t get is that blogging is hard and it takes a lot of time and patience to be read widely enough to get noticed by firms, corporations and companies for publicity and advertisements. Most of the widely read blogs today took months, even years of consistent and tireless effort to get to where they are today and have the kind of recognition they have. Blogging is hardly a get rich quick scheme.
Blogging is Not That Easy
There is a general belief that running a blog is what you do when you either don’t have a job or don’t have anything better to do. Many believe it’s easy and requires little or no effort. That’s inaccurate. Aside having to constantly come up with interesting and engaging content for your blog (almost every hour of the day if yours is a news blog), you also have to consider the mails, questions and comments that you always have to attend to, to help drive engagement on your blog. Eventually, as your blog grows, you’ll realize it’s hardly something you can do on your own.
A Blogger is Not Only a Blogger
As a blogger, especially when starting out, in order to grow your readership you are going to feel the need to be a web designer (trying to find the right web layout that will be attractive and user friendly), a social media strategist (ensuring you use social media to get as much publicity for your blog as you can), an SEO specialist, a web marketing guru and an amateur photographer all at the same time! It’s a lot. You might not exactly be a professional in all the above mentioned areas, but you have to be able to handle them well enough not to suck at it and to help grow your blog’s readership.
The Business Side
Many people tend to underestimate or don’t understand the business side of blogging. They either start demanding for money too soon or are completely clueless about how sponsored content works around the policies of the corresponding firms, corporations and companies. A good number of people don’t realize that some brands or companies have payment terms of ninety days; meaning even after doing publicity for them, you might not get your payment until after three months. Some brands also have you working on sponsored content and you will have to send them draft upon draft till they like what they see. Since you’ve likely already signed a contract with them, you really don’t have much of choice. It is important to recognize the business side of blogging and try to understand it before going into it.

source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/06/4-things-nobody-tells-blogging/

affiliate marketing / Best affiliate marketing programs for Nigerians

« Last post by MikeDstar on September 12, 2017, 09:44:26 am »

Affiliate marketing is one of the coolest ways to make money online in Nigeria. Only few things could be more fulfilling than getting paid to promote and sell other people’s products.
Before now, affiliate marketing in Nigeria was hard because many barriers stood between Nigerians and most affiliate networks. These include:
1. Outright omission of Nigeria from the list of accepted countries for most programs, and
2. Adoption, by most programs, of payment methods that were inaccessible to Nigerians.
But now, all that is history. With services like Payoneer to the rescue, Nigerians can now receive their earnings easily from most affiliate programs. And that explains why many Nigerian online marketers are now making huge profits monthly from this online business model.
One common challenge Nigerians face when starting out with affiliate marketing is the inability to figure good affiliate programs.
In this post, I’ll reveal the best affiliate programs that are Nigerian-friendly. So, if you’re looking to hop on the bandwagon of affiliate marketing, read on to discover the best networks to join.
A. Foreign affiliate networks
If you run a blog targeted at a foreign or global audience, then it goes without saying that you should promote affiliate programs that serve your audience.
Here are the best foreign affiliate programs you can promote as a Nigerian:
Amazon affiliate program
Amazon has been around for a very long time. And many affiliate marketers have cashed in on the company’s long-established reputation to make huge fortunes from its affiliate program.
Aside that Amazon is a global brand that nobody would hesitate to buy from, the company sells almost every product under the sun. So, no matter what your niche is, you’ll always find suitable products to promote on Amazon.
On most products, the Amazon affiliate program pays 4% per sale. That sounds meager, but it would make more sense when you sell products that cost $100 and more. In fact, there are many products on Amazon that sell for thousands of dollars. If you can successfully promote such big money products, you’ll make a killing every month.
Amazon pays via check or direct deposit into a U.S. checking account (which you can get through Payoneer).
One downside to Amazon, however, is that they pay your commissions three months after you’ve earned them. That is, your commissions for January would be paid in April — provided they sum up to the minimum required for payout ($10 for direct deposit and $100 for check).
Markethealth
Markethealth is another popular affiliate program that offers attractive commissions to marketers.
However, unlike the Amazon affiliate program, Markethealth offers only natural health products. So, to promote products for Markethealth, you need to be familiar with some health topics and comfortable with writing about them.
Markethealth offers a whopping 50% commission per sale on virtually all their products, most of which are selling like wild. So, you earn anywhere between $10 and $100 per sale. The company pays by direct deposit to your Payoneer card every two weeks (twice a month), and the minimum payout is just $20.
Commission Junction
Commission junction (CJ) is another popular name among pro affiliate marketers. It’s a large affiliate network comprising hundreds of programs by different companies. In addition to several different products, Commission Junction also allows you to promote services such as insurance, healthcare, travel and tourism, and many others.
How much you’ll earn as commission on CJ depends on the product or service you promote. Some products and services offer as low as 3% commission, while others offer as high as 40% commission.
CJ pays its affiliates via check as well as direct deposit into a U.S. checking account. And payment is made once every month. Minimum payout amount is $50 for direct deposit and $100 for check.
ShareASale
ShareASale is another large affiliate network that operates just like CJ. There is a wide range of products and services available for you to promote as an affiliate. And as with CJ, your commission depends on what product or service you promote.
ShareASale pays via check and direct deposit (into U.S. checking account) on the 20th of every month. Minimum payment amount is $50, but you can adjust this to any amount you like.
B. Nigerian affiliate programs (affiliate programs in Nigeria)
Unlike what obtained in the past, some Nigerians companies now run affiliate programs that pay attractive commissions. If you’re targeting a Nigerian audience with your blog, you may want to focus on these programs instead of the foreign ones.
Jumia affiliate program
As you already know, Jumia Nigeria is a large online retailer of a wide range of products that cater to Nigerians. But more interestingly, Jumia runs an affiliate program that pays you as much as 11% commission on each sale you make.
From wears and fashion accessories to smartphones and electronics, there are many products you can promote as an affiliate marketer for Jumia. The program pays on a monthly basis directly into your local bank account.
Konga affiliate program
Konga is Nigeria’s second largest online retailer of general merchandise. The company also runs an affiliate program that pays you up to 9% commission on every completed sale. Your total earnings would be reviewed at the end of each month and paid directly into your bank account.
DealDey affiliate program
DealDey is Nigeria’s first daily deal website. The website features amazing offers on products across several categories. In addition, they allow people like you to make money by promoting their deals as an affiliate marketer.
For each successfully completed sale you make for DealDey, you get a N500 commission plus an additional amount based on the percentage accrued to the category to which the product you sold belongs.
By default, you get a 5% commission bonus. Fashion accessories will fetch you 10% commission bonus, Home accessories and carry go products will fetch you 5%, and gadgets will fetch you 3%.
You can either receive your earnings directly into your bank account or use them to order for amazing product deals from the website.
Kaymu affiliate program
Kaymu is an online marketplace that allows third-party retailers to sell their products by serving as a platform for them. The company itself handles the receipt of orders as well as payment issues, while retailers handle delivery themselves.
Kaymu has an affiliate program that pays you 5% commission on every sale you make. This percentage is fixed for all product categories. Payment is made directly to your bank account.
That’s it!
You just learned about the various affiliate programs available to you — both on the local and foreign fronts. So, if affiliate marketing seems alluring to you, register with these programs and start making money!

source: webincomeplus.com

affiliate marketing / 10 affiliate marketing strategies that will generate you thousands in a month

« Last post by MikeDstar on September 12, 2017, 09:13:09 am »

T he landscape for affiliate marketers has changed significantly over the past year.
From tighter legislation for affiliates, to Google cracking down on thin affiliate content, and a general increase in competition on the web, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for affiliate marketers to get ahead in the game.
Despite this, many smart individuals and companies continue to generate millions by staying one step ahead of the rest.
So, what is it that affiliate marketers need to do to succeed in 2017 and beyond?
1. Go one inch wide and one mile deep
Many first-time affiliate marketers make the mistake of going one mile wide and one inch deep: trying to dominate forty niches in their first few years.
When you hear about friends making millions from Clickbank products, and marketing products in emerging niches, it can be tough to stay focused.
The price for losing focus, though, is having a portfolio of 21 websites in random niches all with a pitiful domain authority generating next to nothing in sales.
By all means, experiment with different niches once you’ve achieved a level of success you’re happy with on your first website, but to begin with go one inch wide and a mile deep.
2. Create content that your competition can’t compete with
One of the biggest challenges facing affiliate marketers right now is the need to prove their value as middlemen in the value chain.
One of the biggest advantages affiliates have over established brands, and one of the greatest opportunities to add value, is the ability to be agile and act quickly with content marketing.
While brands spend months approving their content strategy and holding fruitless meetings, affiliates can be creating content of such a high standard, that competitors simply won’t have the resources to compete with, and Google would be foolish not to drive traffic to.
This is the strategy that we’ve adopted for most of our affiliate marketing sites at Venture Harbour.
Take Qosy for example. Every 4-6 weeks, Qosy publishes a 3,000 – 8,000 word guide educating readers on tough buying decisions, such as how to choose the best scotch or an engagement ring. While not all of these posts contain affiliate links, affiliate links are often added if a site we’d be recommending anyway has an affiliate program.
It’d be hard for Google to argue with this content not adding value. After all, some of the guides have received close to 10,000 shares and have been used by the brands themselves to educate their own customers. Generally speaking, each guide takes about 40-50 hours to produce, and is benchmarked to beat the best existing piece of content on the topic in virtually every aspect (from design and share-ability, to page speed and on-page SEO).
Over the next year I think we’ll see more and more affiliates adopt this kind of strategy.
3. Build a brand that adds value to the consumer
It’s no surprise that Google’s brand-bias is strengthening. For many affiliates, this is quite a concern, as affiliates haven’t traditionally had to concern themselves with building a strong brand.
When you look at the leading sites in insurance, travel, property, personal finance, and homeware, it’s interesting to note that many of these sites are affiliate sites. They’re also strong brands .
Moneysupermarket, Agoda, Houzz, Which, LastMinute.com, and Compare.com are all ultra-successful affiliate sites due to the strength of their brands, their editorial integrity, and the value they offer consumers.
Over time, affiliate marketers will find it increasingly difficult to succeed without a brand that user’s trust, so consider what you’re doing to develop the brand of your affiliate website.
4. Build a foundation of recurring affiliate revenue
With affiliate marketing, there is no assurance that your current strategy will work in a month’s time. Whether it’s due to Google updating their ranking algorithm, your favourite affiliate program shutting down, or media buying costs increasing, you’d be wise to mitigate against the possibility of major changes.
There are two very effective ways to do this: diversification and by building your recurring revenue.
I’ll talk about traffic diversification in a moment, but let’s first talk about recurring revenue.
Most affiliate marketers focus on one-time payouts, which is generally smart as, due to inflation and the ability to earn interest, $100 today is worth more than $10 per month over 10 months.
The problem is that one-time payouts don’t protect you against major changes in your strategy. That’s why I recommend building up a portion of your affiliate revenue in recurring revenue.
Obviously, the feasibility of this approach depends on your niche and what products are available to promote. If the option is available, I’d highly recommend building a foundation of recurring affiliate income so that you peace of mind that no matter what happens you still receive a certain amount per month for the foreseeable future.
5. Don’t rely on a single traffic source
In February 2011, many successful affiliate woke up to find that they’re probably going to go out of business in a matter of weeks or months, no thanks to Google releasing the initial panda update.
The same thing happened again when Google launched the Penguin update in April 2012.
It’s happening to brands who’ve built up organic Facebook Page audiences, and it’s going to happen time and time again across many third-party platforms whose business model revolves around selling eyeballs.
Some of the people hit by these updates were good friends and clients, which is why I’ve been preaching about diversification of traffic ever since.
Ideally, you should own your audience – not rent it. If you absolutely have to rent it, rent it from multiple sources .
6. Be prepared for mobile
In November 2014, mobile accounted for 46% of all affiliate clicks and 26% of all affiliate retail sales. How does this affect the individual affiliate?
For one, if you’re directing traffic to sites that aren’t mobile friendly, you’re probably losing a lot of potential commissions.
Google have also started to send some rather blatant nudges to webmasters that their websites should be mobile friendly. In November, they launched a
mobile-friendliness checker and began experimenting with displaying whether a page is mobile-friendly or not in search results.
So, having a mobile-friendly site could become a good strategy for outranking your non-mobile friendly competitors in the search results.
Another consideration is that with more people using and purchasing from mobile devices, certain niches, products, and search criteria will rise in popularity, and can be capitalised on by forward-thinking affiliates.
Needless to say, if you’re not prepared for mobile, you’re preparing to be left behind.
7. Get in front of breakout and seasonal trends
Affiliate marketers have been taking advantage of trends for a long time. Yet, new trends continue to breakout, creating hundreds of new weird and wonderful multi-million dollar niches every year.
So, how can you find out what trends are likely to emerge this year?
The first differentiation to make is between seasonal and breakout trends. Seasonal trends are recurring, and often predictable, peaks in popularity that you can prepare for in advance.
Google Trends is your best friend for identifying seasonal trends. While you can just type in a keyword to see how it’s search volume fluctuates throughout the year, you can also use the category functionality to find seasonal trends in specific industries.
Breakout trends are much harder to predict. From electronic cigarettes and online TV, to selfie sticks and cinnamon flavoured whisky, even the most experienced industry experts often have a hard time predicting as far as six months into the future of their industry.
Regardless, reading the predictions of experts in your industry is a good place to start. If you want to know what products might be worth promoting in the travel industry this year, for example, you might want to experiment with search queries like:
You could even try to predict which countries are about to increase in popularity, and begin promoting hotels, flights, and other products that might help people traveling to that area.
Finally, there are a lot of great websites like TrendWatching.com that can help you estimate where the World is heading. Ultimately, though, knowing what’s around the corner comes down to having an acute awareness of what’s being talked about and piquing people’s curiosity in your industry.
8. Promote products that raise your affiliate income by an order of magnitude
When I began affiliate marketing, I promoted products ranging from $0.10 commissions to $100 commissions. It soon became clear that, while having a large volume of low commission sales can create a solid foundation for your affiliate revenue, true growth comes from high commission sales.
My strategy for growing affiliate sites has always been to find products that add value to the site’s readers, and that also have the potential to increase the site’s revenue by an order of magnitude.
If you’re currently generating $1k per month, what products will get you to $10k? If you’re at $10k, what do you need to do to get to $100k?
The answer is usually quite simple: you have to add an extra zero onto the size of your commissions or the amount of traffic you send to publishers. More often than not, this requires a refocus on which products you promote.
9. Focus on topic targeting, not keyword targeting
Google’s attempt to reduce the SEO community’s focus on keyword targeting hasn’t exactly been subtle.
From removing keyword data in Google Analytics and exact-match keyword targeting in Google Adwords, to improving their understanding of similar terms, it’s becoming harder for digital marketers to target individual keywords.
While on the surface this may seem like bad news, it’s arguably a blessing in disguise as it encourages a shift towards topic-targeting, and a focus on capturing long tail traffic.
Instead of trying to rank your content for ‘best gardening tools’, you might instead focus on creating an in-depth piece of content on the topic of gardening tools that helped gardeners choose the right tools for their garden.
By taking this approach, it doesn’t matter whether you rank for ‘best gardening tools’. What matters is the aggregate amount of relevant long-tail traffic you receive to the content.
10. Experiment with unusual content formats for recommending products
A few years ago I heard the story of how an app developer tried to download the Amazon app to make a purchase from his phone, only to realise Amazon didn’t have an app.
He developed an unofficial Amazon app, which was effectively just an app that displayed their website in an iframe. Of course, every single product included his affiliate link – so he earned 5-8% of every sale bought through the app.
Because Amazon didn’t have an official app, his app became extremely popular, making him a very, very, rich man.
I wanted to end on this point to get your creative juices flowing. Most affiliate marketers do the same old thing in a different niche, when the biggest rewards are usually reserved for those doing the exact opposite.
In 2012, I created
WhatIsMyComfortZone.com (a calculator that measures the size of a persons comfort zone). Essentially, it works by filling out a survey on what challenges you’d be willing to overcome, and then it spits out a breakdown of how your score compares with other users, along with a few recommendations.
If a user said they wanted to skydive, their results page would include a link to book a skydive. While I never expected to earn anything from these (what’s the likelihood of someone impulse booking a skydive?), I decided there was no harm in making these links affiliate links.
To my surprise, I checked my AffiliateWindow account after 12 months, and what do you know, a bunch of people did impulse buy a skydive, earning a $40 commission per sale.
While a few skydiving referrals hardly made me rich, these two stories will hopefully give you some ideas about alternative formats for affiliate marketing.
Imagine if, instead of writing another 1,000-word review on the top 10 products in your niche, you developed a calculator or a quiz that used a series of criteria to automatically redirect them to the product that’s best suited for them?
Above all else, 2017 is going to be a year where affiliates need to get creative, out-think the competition, and really prove their worth in the value chain. If you have an idea you want to test, you can now get it live for less than $3 – so what are you waiting for? Make it happen.

source: ventureharbour.com

affiliate marketing / intro to affiliate marketing

« Last post by MikeDstar on September 12, 2017, 08:18:54 am »

How to Make Money Online: An Intro to Affiliate Marketing
There are thousands of ways to make money online.
So what’s the problem?
It’s that the chances of making a lot of money are super slim.
Most people aren’t gonna become the next
Pewdiepie.
And,
The chances of you starting an app that takes over Snapchat are one in billions.
In 2008 I started out to learn how to make money online.
I tried out some ways to make money online like blogging, writing, ecommerce etc. (read my story about how I made my first massively profitable campaign here).
After a few failures in other areas I tried affiliate marketing.
Haven’t heard of affiliate marketing?
Here’s what affiliate marketing is.
First, you should know, there are different types of affiliate marketing.
You could be a blogger and throw up some Hostgator links on your site
Some people write reviews of Amazon products & them become an Amazon affiliate
Others might build out a fitness content site and push Clickbank weight loss products
How do I do affiliate marketing?
I do CPA affiliate marketing
This means that I buy traffic, then I send them to an offer (like an app they can install, or a subscription site, or software).
If I make more in commission than it costs me to buy the traffic, I profit.
If I profit, then I can just buy more traffic, and I make more money.
That’s why I do affiliate marketing.
Why else do I do it?
It’s something you can do by yourself, from your computer.
Why did I choose affiliate marketing over other business models like SEO, niche sites, viral content sites etc?
Because affiliate marketing has a TON of advantages:
You don’t need inventory – digital or physical (you get a commission when you sell other people’s products)
It can scale to make huge profits when you nail the right combo (I made $1m+ in 2008 )
You get results right now. It’s not like SEO or blogging which can take years to work (if they ever do)
You don’t need to put your face on anything – the only thing you do is choose which offers and landing pages/ads to run. I wanted to be low key.
You’re building real skillsets – you learn to test, optimize, bid and build creatives
This is why I chose to do affiliate marketing.
Want an example of what an affiliate campaign looks like?
1. Popups and popunders on mobile are almost always affiliate ads
2. Most native ads are run by affiliate marketers
3. A lot of ads on Facebook are run by affiliates – you’re probably seen some
Major affiliates are pulling seven-figure incomes without ever developing their own products.
While you don’t need all the time and hassle of building your own product, affiliate marketing is still a massive investment.
So what does it take to make money online as an affiliate marketer? Here’s what you need to do.
Join an Affiliate Network or Program
Let’s say I had a business and a friend randomly started referring customers to me.
Would I pay my friend for these leads?
No.
I’d have no idea who referred them and I’d probably think they did it out of the kindness of their heart.
But what if they came up to me sometime and said, “Hey Charles. I know a lot of people that are interested in what you’re selling. If I refer them to you, will you give me a cut of the sales?”
I’d jump at that chance.
That arrangement means I wouldn’t have to pay for advertising, and they’d get a nice income of their own.
It’s a win-win for both of us. How could I say no?
The same rule applies in affiliate marketing.
You can’t just start pushing traffic to a brand’s website.
You must be accepted to their affiliate program, which you do by either joining a network they’re on or signing up with them directly.
This is the first and most important step.
Every super affiliate had to submit an application to join an affiliate network at one point.
Convince the network that you’re honest and can send quality traffic, and you shouldn’t have a problem.
You can find my recommended affiliate networks here .
Find a Traffic Source
There are plenty of ways to drive traffic to affiliate offers.
I use Facebook and some mobile traffic sources, but there’s a ton of others , like native, search, toolbar etc..
Most traffic sources are easy to get up and running on.
Then you’ll need to get some landing pages and some ads together. I’ve got tutorials on how to build landing pages.
Building ads is a simple process (most of the time it’s just an image with some text on it).
Get an Affiliate Tracking Software
You want to know who clicks on your ads right?
If users on Apple devices convert for your offer, but Android users don’t, then you need a way to know this.
Then in your traffic source you can change who you send to your offer.
Hint: This is how affiliates can make money fast. They can hone in on segments of people, and send them specific offers.
I use the software Voluum.
It’s the most comprehensive tracking software available.
It lets you see which city people are from, their IP address, if they clicked on your pages, which website they came from… It can tell you everything.
Learn to Split Test
This is the one thing that sets big affiliates apart from the newbies.
You’ll have to test a lot of things: ads, landing pages, offers, networks running your offer (yes, really), targeting options and day parting etc.
You’ll never know ahead of time what will work and what won’t.
You need to spend money to test.
I can’t tell you how many times something that should’ve worked totally bombed and
something that I threw up for fun turned into a $500-a-day campaign.
The golden rule is to test everything. I know it’s a lot of work, but testing the **** out of campaigns is what differentiates the benchwarmers from the players.
Ready to Make Money Online as an Affiliate Marketer?
You know the basics of affiliate marketing.
Set up your first campaign and start making some money !
Here’s a link to my Ultimate Guide to Launching an Affiliate Campaign – this is your next resource to read.

Get this software for more income in affiliate marketing: https://jvz9.com/c/728319/214199

source: charlesngo.com

Blogging / introduction to blogging

« Last post by MikeDstar on September 12, 2017, 06:48:27 am »

Do you want to learn how to start a blog?
Starting a blog is not complicated at all, and we're here to assure you that creating a successful blog is not as daunting as many people think.
In fact, by following the step-by-step instructions in this guide you will be able to set up your own blog, avoiding pitfalls and missteps that hinder some novices ( no technical skills needed ).
Ready? Let’s get to it!
What you need to know before you start a blog
This section provides background information to help you understand the basics of blogging. We also describe a number of different benefits of blogging, how to choose your niche and blogging topic.
The Evolution of Blogging
What is a blog?
A blog (shortened from the phrase "weblog") is known as many things—a digital magazine, diary, newscast, collector's meeting place, a showcase for your art, information sharing, teaching hub, place to learn and...well, almost anything you want it to be. A typical blog combines text, images, videos and links to relevant pages and media on the Web. Blog readers can leave comments and communicate with the author. In fact, dialogue and interaction are a popular part of a blog's success.
The benefits of blogging
Become a better writer and thinker
Once you start blogging, you'll find yourself becoming a better writer and thinker. Mastering content takes creative thought. When you become immersed in creating great pieces of content for your blog, your writing, thinking and research skills improve in the process.
Establish yourself as an expert
6.7 million people blog on blogging sites and
12 million people blogs via social networks
Blogs are wonderful tools to help people establish themselves as experts in a field or niche. We all have some kind of interest and expertise to share with others. If you’re able to produce great content on your blog and/or have a unique point of view on the topic, then be assured that your future audience will recognize it and reward you for it. With a bit of effort, you too can become an authority in your area of interest.
Increase your self-confidence
The more involved you become with blogging, the more your creative juices will flow. That's one reason why blogging is so popular. As you gain knowledge about your topic, the confidence you build in your followers and most importantly, in yourself, will soar. All of this leads to increased creativity. Keep an open mind and enjoy your new-found confidence in your own abilities!
Make friends and have fun
View How to Blog Infographic
With practice and a little effort, you can easily build your base of blog fans and followers. As you become known as an expert in your niche, you can inspire, encourage and help your followers make a difference in their own lives. Along your blogging journey, you will make new friends and connections throughout the world. If you like to travel, that means a lot of couches are available for you to snooze on while winging your way around the globe!
Make money from your blog
Blogging may well become your passion but you can also make money with your blog. In fact, many authority bloggers are able to make a living from blogging. There are many ways to monetize your blog . You can place ads and receive compensation from companies by promoting their products and services. Or you can sell your own digital products and merchandise.
How to choose a perfect niche
Before you create your own blog and move forward to become a successful blogger try to attain the highest form of knowledge in the niche/topic of your choice. So pick the one that appeals to you—the one you are passionate about and most interested in. Aspire for success, happiness, security and recognition. By choosing your niche of interest and having your own point of view you’ll be able to position and differentiate your blog from the competition.
Brainstorm to find your topic
Following is a process that can help you determine which niche is best for you:
Make a list of your interests or hobbies. Which topics fascinate you? List them all, for instance: golf, fishing, yoga, playing games or cooking.
Next, list accomplishments you are proud of, such as musical talent, artistic talent or sports achievements.
Now, list difficulties you have overcome or defeated, such as: losing a significant amount of weight, recovering from a financial setback or managing a disease.
During the course of this exercise, you will get a better feeling for the topics that resonate with you. The ones you are most passionate about are the best candidates for your niche. Read this article on How to choose a niche for more information.
Five easy steps to starting a blog:
Choose a blogging platform
Pick a domain name
Get a web hosting account
Install blogging software and set up a blog
Select a blog design and layout
Choose a blogging platform
At this stage, you’ll need to determine the type of blog management platform/tool you want to use. We recommend that you set up your blog on one of the self-hosted platforms. But before you make the decision, let us describe each option.
When it comes to starting your blog you have the following options: free, freemium and self-hosted (recommended) platforms.
Free platforms
Top in Blog usage in the United States
WordPress 95.56%
Blogger 4.06%
MovableType 0.19%
Ghost 0.1%
Tumblr 0.06%
Blog Engine 0.02%
Svbtle 0.01%
Posthaven 0%
Anchor CMS 0%
Silvrback 0%
Stats as of 05.02.2016 Source: builtwith.com
For many new bloggers, the availability of free blogging platforms such as Blogger or Tumblr is tempting. Of course, there is one big benefit, it's free. But you need to understand that having a blog name in this form—yourname.blogspot.com or yourname.tumblr.com, is the sign of an inexperienced beginner who likely won't be taken seriously.
By keeping your blog on a free platform, you let the platform own your name. You’ll be subject to their rules and restrictions, they may limit or prohibit ads on your blog, or they may even place their own ads on your blog. If you're serious about blogging, you’ll want to move away from this option.
Freemium platforms
Freemium means you’ll have a trial period before you have to start paying (costs vary from $5 to $30 per month). Several platforms are available. One of the most popular is TypePad. This platform focuses on ease of use for writing, but customization options are limited and it lacks certain features of value to bloggers.
By default, your TypePad blog name will look like this: yourname.typepad.com. It's not always the best option if you’re trying to build the name and brand for your blog. However you could point your own domain (purchased through any domain registrar) to a TypePad blog.
To get your new self-hosted blog started, you need to decide on two important things: a domain name and a web hosting provider. We highly recommend Bluehost that powers over 2 million websites worldwide and only for our visitors, they offer a special deal that includes a FREE domain name.
Pick a domain name
Your domain name will be the name by which you will be known online, no matter what niche you choose. It’s the unique address of your blog on the Internet. Your domain will be yours as long as you continue paying the annual fee ($10 to $15 for a .com domain).
Users who know your domain/URL (uniform resource locator) can simply type it into their browser's address bar. Others will be able to discover your blog through search engines such as Google and Bing, so you definitely need to find a unique moniker.
Your domain name may be the highly popular "dot com" or it may be country or niche specific. From .us (United Sates) to .co.uk (United Kingdom) and from .guru (yes, for life coaches) to .sport (for sports related domains), these top level domains (TLDs) are added to any domain name in order to point to their location. The general rule is to go for a "dot com" domain, but some of the other extensions can work. For example "dot net" or "dot me."
In the end, it's about being memorable, so if a different extension or country code helps you be memorable, then break the rules!
Get a web hosting account
After choosing a domain name, selecting reliable hosting services will be one of the most important decisions you make. To a great extent, the functionality and performance of your blog will depend on your hosting provider. The host makes sure your blog is available 24/7 to potential readers and it’s where your files are stored online.
Most hosting companies also offer domain registration services. Some people keep their domain name with the registrar company, separate from the hosting account. We recommend keeping it all under your hosting account for hassle-free management and maintenance.
The wrong web host can cause many problems with your blog. Just imagine choosing a mobile company that has no reception. Your web host is a major piece of the puzzle to maintaining a successful blog, therefore, it’s crucial that you choose a reliable provider.
Install blogging software and set up a blog
Now it’s time to get your domain name and web hosting account, and create your new blog. Bellow you will find our recommended hosting provider—Bluehost. We were able to negotiate a special price only for FirstSiteGuide visitors, so feel free to use it. Also, if you get stuck, we included step by step instructions to help you with the process.
Step by step blog set up instructions
This section provides detailed information to help you signup for web hosting account and set up a WordPress blog. We also included screenshots of the pages that you need to go through.
Total:
14.1K a 885 d 81 f 0
h 31 k 211 n 12.9K
Today, news blogs rival mainstream media
Social media has made blooging more interactional
2016 •
Niche blogs such as Mashable and TechCrunch brought blogging to the mainstream in the 21st century 2001 •
The invention of the word was a joint effort between Jorn Barger , who coined the term “weblog” in 1997 as a shortened version of “logging the Web,” and Peter Merholz, who truncated the term to “blog” in 1999.
1999 •
1997 •
The first blog is credited to a Swarthmore College student named Justin Hall, who in 1994 created the site Links.net. However, the term “blog” didn’t enter our lexicon until several years later.
1994 •
Self-hosted platforms
Self-hosted platforms allow you to run a blog on your own domain. Aside from following your domain registrar and web hosting company's rules, you’re fully in charge of your blog and its contents.
You have number of choices when it comes to a self-hosted blog system (also called Content Management System or CMS). The most popular is
Wordpress.org .
This blog option is called self-hosted because you will use your own web hosting space and name for your blog. It normally costs $4 to $8 per month for the web space (hosting account), depending on the company you choose, and $12 to $15 per year for the name (domain). The actual CMS is usually open-source and free.
Although we mentioned some free blog-hosting options, the best course of action is to own your blog, especially if you will be using your own copyrighted material (articles, drawings, photos, etc.). Pay a small amount of money every month, about the same as a Starbucks coffee, and you will build your own equity. If you plan to sell products, services, music or anything else via your blog, then paid hosting is the best way to go. Many hosting providers can help you maintain an ecommerce blog.
One of the best and most well-known self-hosted content management systems (CMS) is WordPress.org, powering
25.4% of all websites in the world and responsible for over 76.5 million blogs, which is recommended by
99% of the
blogging experts we’ve surveyed
Visit BlueHost to get the special deal
268 people visited BlueHost today
Free Domain Name & Instant Setup
Trusted by top bloggers
1-Click WordPress Install
Start Setting Up a Blog >
Step One
Use this link to get the special deal from Bluehost. Then click the "Get Started Now" button.
Step Two
You should start by selecting your plan. If this is your very first one, you should go with the basic one – at least until you explore your options. The one called plus should be able to cover all your needs once you get your blog going, and you should consider the pro version once your popularity skyrockets.
Step Three
Your domain name has an important say when it comes to the future success of your blog, so you should take your time to come up with something new. Just type in a desired domain in this “new domain” box and BlueHost will show you whether it’s available or not. If not, it will provide you with a list of similar names for you to choose from.
Step Four
After you pick out your domain name, BlueHost will take you to the registration page where it will be required from you to fill in your personal info including the billing data. A couple of minutes is all you need.
Step Five
Pay additional attention to your hosting options. Obviously, the 12 month package has the lowest price, but the other two are great when you want to make a long term investment. You can feel free to uncheck the rest of the boxes – you can always get them later when you find them necessary.
Step Six
After you enter your payment information, you’re ready to set your password which will be used for account verification purposes.
Step Seven
After successfully creating your new password you will be able to login to your account.
Step Eight
Once you login to your account, you are now able to choose one of the default WordPress themes for your new blog, provided by Bluehost. Keep in mind that you can always pick another theme from a Wordpress.org repository.
Step Nine
After picking a theme of your choice you are now ready to create your new blog by logging in into the WordPress dashboard.
Step Ten
Once you login into your WordPress dashboard you will be prompted with the “Welcome” message and you can choose to accept the help provided by BlueHost for selecting the type of website you are about to create. Or, you can always do it on your own.
Step Eleven
If you click on the Bluehost button in the left hand corner, you will see the page with various tools which are designed to help you create your new site. You can easily launch your site by clicking the “Launch” button and be seen online within minutes.
After clicking the “Launch” button, you will just need to fill the two most important fields for your site. The title and description, which will tell your future visitors what is your site all about.
Now your new site is ready for launch!
If something is still unclear, perhaps our step-by-step video will be helpful when making your own WordPress blog, so check it out.
Should you need any help with the setup process, we will be happy to assist you, free of charge. Just contact us.
Select a blog design and layout
After Wordpress is installed, the first thing your blog needs is a face (design and layout). The design of your blog can be easily changed with the Themes . The default theme that comes with your WordPress blog installed is Twenty Sixteen—while it's a good starter theme, you could select a theme that is more unique to your blog and compatible with your niche. Choose a theme that looks great, but also works for your unique content needs. Your readers will first notice the overall appearance of the blog, before even taking a look at the content.
Action steps
Here's a quick checklist for choosing your theme by searching within the blog dashboard:
1. Read the description
Most themes come with a short description of features and functionality. By reading it, you should have a rough idea if the theme matches your needs and how customizable it is.
2. Preview the theme
Preview the theme to get an idea of the overall look and layout.
3. Check the ratings
Popular themes will have star ratings that are visible in the preview and under theme details. They should give you a clear idea how good the theme is.
4. Check for responsiveness
Aim for a responsive design that will work on desktop browsers and mobile devices. This is recommended by Google.
If you find a theme that takes your breath away, cool down. Once you install a theme you like, don't be surprised if it doesn't look quite right. Your theme is just a skeleton of your blog. To make it appealing, you’ll have to fill in content (text, photos, videos, etc.).
Useful Resources to help you maintain and grow your blog:
Learn How to Use WordPress (with Video Tutorials)
How to Write and Create Great Blog Content
How to Promote your Blog and Its Content
How to Make Money From Your Blog
Best Blogging Tools and Resources
Choose a Domain Name guide
Web Hosting Services Explained guide
Conclusion
Congratulations! Now you have your own domain name, hosting space and your blog is set up. Next, you will need to get familiar with the Wordpress dashboard, learn how to make desired changes to your blog, start your content creation and promotion in order to become a successful blogger.

source: firstsiteguide.com