Online Income Possibilities

Niche Blueprint may be the product I decide to purchase and review for the month, because so far it seems quite exciting. The guys who have put together this internet package have, to date, only released 3 videos on the web site.

What's involved
In the first 2 videos, they describe what is going to be in the package, and boast that it is a step-by-step process in setting up a retail site, and that they even provide the templates for the sites. They also promise that there is no dealing with adwords, and the SEO process is simple.

Actual site example shown
In the most recent video posted (#3 in the series) they actually show one of the sites that they have, and that it usually is #1 or #2 in the Google search rankings. I checked this one and they are correct. At one point in the morning hours it did rank #2, and in the evening it held the #1 spot for search of "Train Horns" (in a side note, on Yahoo search the site did not appear...until you used "Train horns for sale". Then it was in the #1 spot).

Train horns. Who the heck would even consider setting up a site that sells train horns for cars? But these guys found a market for them and they are doing well with it.

Checked for Page Rank
I decided to do a page rank check on their site. After all, to have a natural search result (I know, a lot of people use the phrase "organic search", but as far as I'm concerned if it's not growing out of the dirt, then it's not organic) as high as #1 or #2, then it must have a high page rank...with tons of links.

The page has a page rank of 3 of 10. It also has very few backlinks.

Low page rank, few backlinks, and a high search result.
These guys obviously know what they are doing.

As the year draws to a close, it feels right to do a summation of how things have progressed. To be honest, starting this blog was done as a exercise in getting started (on the cheap) in the world of online business. Granted, it has been a heck of a learning curve (and still learning), but overall it's been fun and interesting.

New Products
In the upcoming year, I will try to make a point of at least trying out 1 new product per month that relates to running a online business. This will mean that I'll give the product a good test run, and then report back if it is worth spending your money on. The good thing about the majority of the products I'll be test driving is that they offer a money-back guarantee. I probably won't be asking for my money back on any of them as long as they can do one thing for me.

Teach me something new and of value. Regardless of the purchase price, if the material can show me something that is of value to me, then the price is worth it.

Comparison to Higher Level Education

I've used this analogy before, but consider the costs involved with going to college to be a lwayer. You will have your initial tuition fees, and then your book fees. What guarantee do you have that you will succeed as a lawyer?

None. They will tell you that if you work hard, and apply yourself, then you should do well enough to be able to enter the 2nd year. More tuition fees, book fees, apply yourself, work hard...and then on to your 3rd year. After you mamage to complet the course, you still have to pass the bar exam for your state.

After all of that, you still haven't landed your first client.

Running a online business isn't quite that complicated. You are still going to have start-up costs, and you should make a point of trying to stay current with any literature that can assist you in promoting and running your business. Just keep in mind that if you expect to be rich overnight, then you are in for disappointment.

I've done a previous post on the subject of article writing as a way of making money online. In that post, I provided a link to a product that I felt would help those (like myself) who wanted to be able to write better articles.

Write top quality articles for your website. Click here for more information

I'm not just recommending this product, I've actually bought it myself, and I do make regular use of it. I've mainly used it to help in creating articles I've used for this blog when it came to subjects that I had some knowledge in. Those of you who may have read that earlier post may think (and rightfully so) that it's a good idea, but why bother?

There are 2 sites online that will pay you for well written articles. I will provide the links to those and what is required. There are only 2 of many possible places that will pay you for your writings.

Yes, there is a catch. Mainly that they aren't going to buy just anything that you decide to toss out to them. It would be very nice if it worked that way, but life seldom goes the way we want. Before giving in to despair, both places will tell you upfront what is required in articles submitted.



Personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/pay-per-post-we-buy-articles

Now, the above link goes to a payday loan business. Here is a brief description from them about their article buying process:
"Normally we price articles at about $0.05 cents per word to a maximum of $25 per article. For those who submit articles and whose articles develop a readership or attract a significant amount of other sites linking to our own, we then may pay more to motivate that author to produce more content. Depending on your skill level, it may not be difficult to write one 525 word article."

So, you already know that they will mainly be interested in articles about the loan business. They even provide the keywords that they want in submitted articles, and where they should be placed. I submitted a article a few days ago (having made use of my copy of the article wizard) and received the following yesterday:
"Hi,

We have been reviewing your submitted article and are very interested in it. Can you resubmit it through a return email to this address? Thanks."

Thank goodness I'd saved a copy of the silly thing. I resubmitted it to the attached address, and I'm waiting for the reply now. I'll post again if I get the sale. If so, then I would have made back almost 40% of the purchase price of the software with 1 sale.

elance.com

With elance.com, this is more of a specific detail per article deal. Once you go to their site, you'll navigate thru the tabs for "Find Work", "writing and translation" and finally to "Article writing". Once you're there, you'll see numerous article writing jobs that are up for bid. The person wanting the articles will state what they want, and then prospective writers will respond with how much they want to be paid for the job. Obviously the person with the lowest bid will most likely get the job, but those with good rating can ask for more.

If you are knowledgeable in the subjects, or have a good skill for research, then these should be easy for you to do. Please feel free to go there now and see just what is available for you.

Once again, if you are interested in this area as a way of making money online, but feel your skills are lacking, I do recommend using the Article Wizard. Once again, here is the link:

Write top quality articles for your website. Click here for more information

It might seem that this would be a difficult time to be starting up a new business, especially considering that it has been confirmed that we are in a recession (those of us in the USA). This is actually a very good time to get started, as I’ll explain.

People will be trying to get by without spending as freely as they once did. This means that they will not be calling on electricians when they need minor electrical/plumbing repairs done. Granted, for the really big jobs the call to the professionals will still happen, but for hanging a ceiling fan?

Two ideas spring to mind to meet those particular needs. The first (since I am partial to working online) would be to become a reseller of “How To” manuals for simple home repairs. If you check around you are bound to find a few e-books on the subject matter, in fact you could just act as the go-between for the buyer and the seller.

Another , hands on method, would to become a handyman. When I was a child, there was an older gentleman in my neighborhood. He would do minor repair work, and give a honest opinion if a professional should be called for the job. He did ceiling fan installation, minor plumbing…he even installed a water heater for my parents at one time. He would normally receive $30-$50 per job (which was less than half what professionals would charge). This might not seem like a lot, but he typically did about 20 jobs a week for a neighborhood consisting of 6 residential blocks. Those rates were also in 1970’s money.

Word of mouth was a wonderful promotion tool for him, and should always be a part of your own business plan. Get your customers to recommend you to their friends and family. Someone’s social network will always be better for the promotion of your business than simple advertising.

Let’s go to a much older idea for a home business. This one is really tied in to the downturn in the housing market. Take a walk thru your neighborhood. Check for the houses that have “For sale” signs on them, and no one living there. When you have a fairly decent list of these, contact the agency selling them houses (mostly it will be banks and mortgage companies). Find out who is in charge of those particular properties, and offer your services for general yard clean-up.

Inform them that you are available for mowing the grass, trash clean-up, and snow removal. Set a schedule for how often you will perform these tasks per month, and set a monthly fee. With a fee of only $40 per month, most will accept your offer. Why? because a house that looks well maintained will always sell more frequently than a house that looks “shabby”. In many cases your fee will be less than the possible fines a town might give for the grass not being mowed.

Once again, if you are fair with these organizations, they will spread the word for you, and supply you with additional business.

We all know that online businesses are growing by leaps and bounds. There was the Dot-Com bust that happened a few years ago, but the business opportunities available online have managed to come back stronger than before. This is due to the natural growing pains that happen thru all business ventures. Those early pioneers were just beginning to stretch their legs, and of course they tried to run before they were really walking.

One of the chief business opportunites that has appeared on the horizon has been in the realm of affiliate marketing. It's not exactly new, there has been a number of affiliate marketing ideas thru-out the years (although the terms were different before). The basic idea for affiliate marketing is that someone comes up with a solid product, they give it a money-back guarantee, and then they have other people do the actual marketing of the product.

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The affiliates are able to cover a much larger area than the original person. A good affiliate program will then make sure that the affiliate is rewarded with a good share of the sale price for the item.

Another good sign of health for a affiliate program is in the way they accept payments. We all know that in this day and age, the vast majority of credit cards (Visa, Mastercard) are cracking down on fraud, and that fraudulent charges can be taken care of with a simple phone call. If you add in the "PayPal" option, then you are very sure of the legitimacy of the seller. Paypal is very quick to shut down anyone who isn't top notch.

Digital information downloads are certainly the rising star in the affiliate programs available for online businesses. We've all heard that "Knowledge is Power", so that also means that information is money. If someone were to offer you info that would allow you to earn extra cash from home, or even make enough money to be able to take that vacation you always wanted, then just how much would you be willing to spend for it?

When you find yourself reading over these words (and maybe reading thru them again), then you might permit yourself to know the fact that affiliate marketing is the business opportunity you've been looking for.

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