KelvinTong.com

You can publish on the Internet in the form of an ezine, a blog, a website, or use RSS (really simple syndication) to spread the word. If you write for a hobby and publish for fun, then your reward is the joy of providing material for other people to enjoy. However, if you publish for profit, let’s discuss how to make money for your efforts.

One of the easiest ways to make money is to place Google AdSense advertising on your publication. You cannot put Adsense ads in a text newsletter, but you can put them in the archived pages on your eZine website or blog. If you are blogging, you can place them in the blog pages.

Let’s discuss Adsense a little more. It is a program from Google and is a very important part of Internet advertising. A good definition of AdSense is from Wikipedia.org.

AdSense is an advertising program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text and image advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on a per-click basis. Google utilizes its search technology to serve ads based on website content, the user’s geographical location, and other factors.

AdSense works like this. When you sign up as an affiliate of the Adsense program, Adsense provides you with a snippet of HTML code that you insert in your web page where you want the Adsense ads to appear. Google reads the content of the page where the code is placed and it automatically places ads on the page that match the page’s theme or content.

When a reader clicks on an AdSense ad on your page and makes a purchase, you receive a commission for the sale. All you have to do is allow the AdSense program on your pages and Google does the rest. It is an ingenious system and is one that has revolutionized advertising on the Internet.

It is very easy to join Adsense. If you are interested in learning more or if you want to join, click the link following link.

https://www.google.com/adsense

Another way to make money from your publications is to make recommendations to your readers to buy items from which you make a commission or referral fee. On the Internet, this is called an affiliate relationship.

The affiliate program is probably the best return for your effort with the least demand on your time. This has an appeal to the Boomer Entrepreneur since we want to run the business and not have it run us. We want to have time to “kick back and smell the roses”.

The attraction to this model is that it is virtually risk free except for your time. It costs you nothing to sign up as an affiliate. You recommend the product and send your visitors to the website where the product is sold. If the customer purchases the product, you are paid a commission.

Amazon.com is credited with being the first businesses on the Net to fully develop the affiliate concept and now all the major companies have affiliate programs.

How does it work? When you sign up as an affiliate, you will be given an affiliate number, and a special link to use for linking to the affiliate website. This link will send your visitor to the business site and at the same time tell the business that you sent the visitor so you will receive the commission in the case of a sale.

Selling advertising is another way to profit from publishing. As your ezine, blog, or website gain popularity, you will be approached to include advertising in your publication. Plan ahead on this and do the market research to know what your reply should be the first time you are asked how much your advertising rates are.

You can use your publication to indirectly make money by directing readers to other of your affiliated sites where you are selling a product or service. You will notice on many sites the signature block will have links to affiliated sites. This attracts people to click the links to check them out.

For more detailed discussion about publishing or making money from your publication visit http://www.retirement-jobs-online.com/publishing.html.

Good luck with all your future publishing projects. May they all be profitable.

Copyright 2006 John Howe, Inc.

John V. W. Howe is an entrepreneur, author, inventor, patent holder, husband, father, and grandfather. He has been involved in entrepreneurial activities for over 40 years. He founded www.boomer-ezine.com and www.retirement-jobs-online.com to help Boomers (baby boomers) become entrepreneurs when they retire.

Article Source: Article-Hut.com- Article Submission Service

One of the most keenly contented online businesses is that of a Web Hosting business. I remember that time where you will need to pay US$20 - US$30 for any decent web hosting services, but how the price has come down. Now, you can get a pretty decent web hosting services for just a few bucks. And they give you much more than just 10MB of space.

The easiest way to start your own web hosting business is to become a reseller. This I mean by really having a web hosting site under your own brand name, instead of just having an affiliate link. I did the same last year with GoDaddy.com, a pretty big brand name in the web hosting business. I named my business JustPapa.com, hoping to draw on a similar naming convention. I signed on the Super Reseller plan, which comes with a free Pro Reseller account. This will allow me to not only sell domain names and web hosting services, but also allow me to sell Reseller accounts.

GoDaddy’s Super Reseller account cost US$229. Not only does it come with the Pro Reseller account, it also comes with US$250 worth of Google Adwords. So the plan practically pays for itself. However, learning to use Google Adwords is never easy, and I wasted a lot of money on useless keywords. But the fact is that Google Adwords did generate traffic for me and I signed up some customers because of it. I even collected my 1^st cheque of US$41.90 made during my 1^st month. Not bad for my 1^st try at web hosting business but certainly I paid a high price, all US$250 of it. I advertise heavily on Google but the returns were low and I have to stop the Google ads once I start burning my own money.

The ads stop and so did the customer. The biggest problem about starting a business online is Targeted Web Traffic. I just stopped publicizing my business and soon lost interest in it. It is going to be 1 year since I started it and I have officially closed my web hosting business. It does not mean I do not believe in it anymore, just that I believe I need a new business plan. I am learning on how to best use my resources in Google Adwords so that I can get more targeted traffic and results. I will also be trying out the Get FREE Pay-Per-Clicks program to see how I can get free ads on Google. And I will want to learn more on how I can get Targeted Web Traffic to my website. I will continue to share what I learn on this site, so do continue to keep a look out for it.

Meanwhile, if you are looking for a hosting company to host your website, I strongly recommend:

BlueHost - You can host unlimited domains with one account, and with 300GB of space, you may even start your own web hosting services here! Having tried them for more than a year now, I am impressed with their support, especially the “live” online support that is always available. If you need space and needed to host more than 1 domains, this place is excellent.

EugeneHosting - If you are looking to host a simple website and hate the advertisement that comes with free web hosting, why not try here. Their web hosting plan starts from US$1! Don’t be fool by the low cost, I was with them for about 2 years on the US$1.75 plan, and it comes with cPanel as the administrator interface, which is fantastic. And they have got a very good support too (as least back then when I was with them). I notice a slight drop in support recently but at US$1, it’s a steal. I only moved on to BlueHost because I needed a lot more space and needed to host a lot more domains.

Cheers!

UPDATE 26 Jan 2008:

It has been brought to my attention at EugeneHosting is no longer in business. A pity, consider how they started out. I still remember the excellent support they gave me when I first hosted with them. But things start to go awry when there seems to be a change in personnel. And now finally I heard the bad news. I wish all of them well and I hope no one reading this has been ‘burnt’ by them.

An alternative but relatively new hosting site is BlueWhaleHost.com and I would like to have any feedback from anyone who have hosted with them. Cheers.

I was about to write about some other online venture but I decided to write this instead. Helium - Where Knowledge Rules.

Just what is Helium? I actually stumbled onto this website and if you ask me now? I can’t recall exactly how I found it. But one thing for sure, I am hook on it. Not so much about the earning potential, but rather I find this to be an excellent site for anyone who has a keen interest in writing to hone their writing skills. And I am not talking about writing sales letters, but articles that may even has a chance for print publication.

How it works is that you choose a topic of interest, or create one, and write an article about it. Other writers will than rate your article by a comparison system, and by some mechanism, it will provide a ranking for your article. I find this to be very intriguing and I love to see how my writing stands. Well, I am not much of a writer actually, and I only develop an interest in writing quite recently, so I find Helium a perfect place to hone my writing skills.

Helium also runs a regular contest and gives out cash prizes to the top 73 writers for the period. You can win anything from $5 to $300, and some ego to go along with it. And they tie up with some print publisher to have your articles (if it comes out top) published in their publication, with some rewards in return.

I will say Helium is one of those Web 2.0 site that may aspire to be a YouTube or MySpace one day in terms of popularity (and maybe in terms of value too), and I do feel a huge potential for this site.

I’m not sure if you can make big money on Helium, as I only joined them yesterday (and just made my 1st cent, nothing to shout about, but hey, I’m not much of a writer yet anyway), but if your interest is writing, do not give this site a miss.

Do check out some of my articles at Helium:

Reasons why some people steal
http://www.helium.com/tm/315042/often-innocent-unless-proven

Tips for men by men: How to really help your wife through pregnancy
http://www.helium.com/tm/314749/women-venus-would-offer

Why you don’t need to buy an expensive new computer
http://www.helium.com/tm/314727/latest-computer-fastest-processor

Short stories: A rendezvous at the museum
http://www.helium.com/tm/318425/clock-struck-three-young

Open source software has come a long way. It used to be a poor man’s alternative, but in recent years, the quality of the open source software have grow from strength and strength, and are appearing in more and more desktops.

While most of the open source software are available free-of-charge (especially for non-commercial use), there are those that comes with better support that charges a premium. For example, in the operating system (OS) world, Red Hat has been one of the most widely used Linux OS, along with SUSE Linux and others. There is also a version of office suite by SUN Microsystems that will cost you quite a fair amount of money.

So, is there a money making opportunity here? Most definitely. As many software are in the hundreds of megabytes, someone who has a slow internet connect will love to pay you to get their hands on the software. Usually, there are provision for you to charge material cost (eg, cost of CD-ROM), postage and handling cost, and a small “effort” cost.

But if anyone can download and sell the same software, how do I stand out among the crowd? Here are some of my personal experiences that I would like to share, and you’ll probably have some of you own experiences that you can add to it.

Firstly, been truthful right from the beginning will be helpful to your cause. Do not attempt to cheat your buyer by passing off as the same product as their commercial cousins. While I truly believe many of these open source software are as worthy as their commercial counterparts, there are not the same product. After all, big companies like Microsoft, Symantec, Adobe (just to name a few) have poured indecent amount of money into creating their products, and will come with full support. Open source software is much different, it is usually a result of like-minded people who come together to create and improved the products. Support is usually in the form of a forum, and not all are frequently updated. So stating it clearly will avoid any dispute later on.

I’m not saying that open source software are inferior to commercial software, but it is important to let your buyer know that they are buying an open source software. Software like OpenOffice.org has been widely used by many government agencies around the world, so it shows its value as an open source software.

But just downloading a product such as OpenOffice.org and burnt it into a CD-ROM and trying to sell it is not enough. Ensure you have a nice picture/graphic to show your potential buyer, as they likely to be more attracted to it if there is a nice picture for them to see. Also, make sure you use CD-Label for your CD-ROM and not handwritten title on the CD-ROM.

Do bundle various useful open source software together so that your buyers will feel that it is value for money to buy from you and not spend the time downloading all the different software from different websites. The better your bundle, the more likely they will want to buy from you. Also, make sure your software are up-to-date. If there are any newer versions, make sure you update yours too. And finally, charge a reasonable price for your service.

You can either set up a website to sell your software, or list it on Ebay. Ebay is probably the easier way as you know that many people are already searching Ebay for these software. Setting up your own website will be great if you are able to direct traffic to it and it could potentially means lesser competition. Either way, you are on the way to making your first dollar online.

p/s: This article can also be found here http://www.helium.com/tm/316244/source-software-alternative-recent

One of my first online ventures is actually selling items on Ebay. I used to have hundreds of special soccer figurine that I build up over the years. As my house is running out of space, I decided to keep only those that I really like and sell off the rest, but never expect to make money out of it.

I started by listing the rare ones and set them with a low GBP0.99 each, hoping to sell them off to cut my loses. But the bids came in fast and furious, beyond what I can imagine. One figurine actually sold for GBP34.00, way past my expectation. So I started to sell the rest of my figurines, and bundling the not so popular ones with the popular ones so that I can get rid of those unpopular figures.

In the end, after keeping those figurines that I didn’t want to sell, I am left with only 2 unsold figurines. And while doing so, I made a tidy profit out of it (even after Ebay and PayPal fees). What was meant to be a stock clearance sales ended up to be a profitable business.

Few lessons I learn from this experience that I want to share it with you.

1. Give a title as descriptive as the product you are selling as possible and try to identify key words to be used. Do some research and see how those power sellers describe their products in the title, it has to be catchy, yet direct so that buyer know exactly what you are selling. For example, what I am selling is a soccer figurine by the popular vendor Corinthian, so the key words are “Corinthian” , “Name of the Player” , “The Club/Country they represent”. Something like “Rare Liverpool Ian Rush by Corinthian Signed”. Notice I added a few more important information like “Rare” and “Signed” which can make a difference between you and the others selling the same item. But do make sure it is really “rare” and really “signed” as you do not want to jeopardize your reputation.
2. Take good pictures. A lousy picture will give you a lousy sales, no doubt about it, as people DO judge a book by its cover. Just make sure you take the picture during the day (outdoor will be great) and the item do not reflect your face on it (unless of course you are posting a dating ad). A well taken picture speaks of your professionalism and increase buyer confidence.
3. Make sure you pay for your pictures to be seen in the gallery. Which means if some one does a search and the various results shown, they will be able to see the picture with clicking further into link. I learn this based on my own experience that I usually do not click on those auctions that does not have pictures on the gallery, especially when there are hundreds of similar items. As the saying goes, “Picture Speaks a Thousand Words”.
4. Sign up with PayPal to be used as your preferred mode of receiving payments. This is important as it is a safest way to collect money online, and it protects both the in interest of both buyer and seller. It also allows the buyer to pay immediately hassle free. While there is a fees charge by PayPal for the service, it is far lower than most of the other payment methods out there. And PayPal has been around a long time, so it does have a certain degree of reputation (which means your customer is more likely to trust their credit card details with it). PayPal now also allow non-PayPal members to make one time payment via their credit cards without the need to sign up for a PayPal account.
5. Ensure you have good communications with the buyers. Even when the buyer fails to pay, do not be so hurry to give him or her a negative ratings, this will only hurt yourself as they might leave you a negative ratings in return. Ratings is one of the key elements buyer look out for when buying something from you, so having a 100% positive ratings is crucial. When buyers did not reply, there could be many genuine reason for it, so talk it out with the buyers and come with a common understanding on how to resolve the issue “offline”. In most situation, buyer will be very happy for your understanding and will leave you a good rating even if the purchase did not go through. Remember, you are not out there to make enemies, but friends.
6. Pack your product well for shipment. If your product reaches your buyer damaged, don’t expect a very good rating. So ensure you pack your product to be able to withstand harsh treatment by the postal office. Not all postman will treat your package with care, so you much ensure your packaging is good enough. Expect repeat customers just because they feel safe with the way you package the product.
7. Finally, make sure your product sells! Do some research before you jump in. Is anyone selling similar products? How much are they selling? How many have they sold? How big is the market for the product? Get all the facts right and price your product accordingly. Do be put off if others sell a similar product with you, but try to differentiate yourself from the others. The world is big enough for more than one seller to co-exist.

That’s it, my 7 valuable lessons which I learn it the hard way, and I hope it will help you to understand more about making money on Ebay.

If you have no idea or products to sell, just check out these 2 resources that might be off help. Each also has valuable FREE resources that you can have at absolutely no cost to you.

Auction Profit Streams - Real Life Ebay Powerseller reveals his secret (and his Ebay ID to prove his words)

Product Whole Sale Directory - Find reliable wholesale suppliers for variety of genuine and quality products

Wishing You Success!
Kelvin

p/s: This article can also be found here http://www.helium.com/tm/314918/first-online-venture-actually

I’m sure at some point, when the Internet is booming, everyone asked themselves this question. Can I make money on the Internet? I have on many occasions tried and failed, and gain small success in some. I gave up many times, only to find myself going back to it again. It’s like an addiction. Where else can you try to start a business with so little cash and an opportunity to strike it rich?

So I read up Internet Marketing books that teach you to make money online, spent hours on the Internet everyday researching on the various methods on money making, and look through all the mails that have been sent to me. Hoping to find an answer. I even wondered if someone from the Far East (Singapore to be exact) can really be successful in Internet Marketing. After all, we have a small population and most are too busy with their day job to be bothered about making money online.

Then I realize that I am not alone, there are indeed many people out there who have been trying out all the various ways to make money online and many have been unsuccessful or disappointed with the results. But I have also met those who are very successful in Internet Marketing that they have made a name for themselves in the Internet World.

But with millions and millions of program out there that promises to make you tons of money, where to you get started? Which brings me to the reason I started this blog.

Over the next weeks, or months, I will try to review as many money making programs out there in the Internet and give my frank opinions here. And I also encourage you to give your honest opinions on each of the program I reviewed. Simply because there might be some things that I missed out and you know about.

So, here we go on my journey of making money online. Fact or Fiction? You decide.

Regards,
Kelvin