No More Crickets

Hello! Anybody out there?

Well, now that I’m back from my holiday, I’m trying to get back on track with these postings! What were we talking about? We went over choosing keywords and topics, and where to host your websites. Also talked about one place where you can design a basic website for free, and where to get photos for your website. You’ve signed up for Adsense (good for you) and hopefully have a site ready to go! You’re going to want to build a few of these sites, since there’s no telling which ones will be the ones to earn you the most. Something I’m experimenting with is foreign markets. You’ll have to have a friend in another country to buy your domain names for you, but other than that… you can use Wordtracker to check keywords in the UK, and you might want to make use of that, since there is probably less competition. If you know another language, you could try making sites in that language as well. You want to get as focused as possible. Now, how to get traffic? Basically, what you want to get are backlinks. This will help Google (and other people) find your page. Put your URL in your signature at forums you go to, or write some articles relating to your subject, and include your website at the end. I’d say put it in your blog but I know at least Myspace is being weird about links.

I want to recommend an e-newsletter that I receive that’s really helpful to me. Not everything always applies, but it’s all about building websites and getting visitors, and I think it’s worth signing up for. Being new to websites, web design, traffic, etc., they bring up a lot of things worth considering and applying to your own websites and businesses. You can find it at Entireweb. If you decide you don’t like it after all, just cancel. It’s free. No big deal. Let me know what you think!

Your Domain

Have I mentioned domainsbot.com yet? Or eurodns.com? I don’t think I have. These are great websites for brainstorming. Domainsbot I like, because you can type in one domain name, and it will give you a ton of suggestions. You can filter them, and say what words you do or don’t want to include. I have to say, it’s not that great with hyphenated websites. I would turn to eurodns for that. I like to use eurodns for bulk searches. If I have a lot of domain name ideas, I can type them all in at once, and see which ones are available. Eurodns doesn’t give you any suggestions for domains like domainsbot does, so I use them interchangeably. I’m mentioning this because by now, you should have at least one idea for a website. You know, I’m going to make something up here. Cribs. We’re making a site about cribs. So I’ve done my research, think this will be a good topic with lots of visitors, and now I need a domain name. I go to eurodns and domainsbot and brainstorm til I find a good one. Preferably, it’ll have some keywords in the title. Say wordtracker says ummm ‘wood cribs’ is a big search. If I can get woodcribs.com, that’s perfect! Hypens are fine, as well (www.wood-cribs.com). Now, don’t go registering them through these sites though. Go back to your Dreamhost account, and register through there, or else you’re just creating more work for yourself. Once you have your domain, you’re ready for the next step….

Topics

Wow, the weather is great here. I really should spend some more time outside.

So! Are you signed up with Dreamhost? Adsense? Adwords? Did you get those ebooks? If not, go see my other posts, please.

Today’s tip. Have you thought of some possible topics you’d like to create a site around? Your next step is to go over to Wordtracker, Google Trends, and Overture and do a little research. Oh you’ll also want to just go to Google, and type in your word or phrase. Then look to the right and see how many ads there are. You need to have a good number of ads, or else nothing will show up on your site, and you won’t make any money! We’re just talking about Adsense here. If you had a product you wanted to promote with Adwords, you would really be hoping for LESS competition, Anyway, type in some of your ideas at Wordtracker, and Google Trends, etc, and see what you get. At Wordtracker, you’re looking for a high KEI, and a lot of searches. If people aren’t searching, you’re not going to get traffic. Duh. Remember - be sure to be specific! Find your niche. You want MORE searches, LESS competition. Got that? Good.

Also, be sure to take a look at the ads on Google, and see what they’re for. Remember that people are LOOKING for something. They’re looking for a solution. They’re searching because they have a question or a problem. The ads that they will see on your site need to offer solutions. Say I was looking for horse saddles. And I came to your site, and it’s about horse saddles, but doesn’t have them for sale… I’ll look at your links, and if they look helpful, I’ll click on them. Make sense? Ok, now do your homework.

How Time Flies

OK, so I was wrong. I can’t keep up with this every day, or even every other day! Oops…

Well, let’s see…. How about we talk about Adsense and websites today…

You’re going to want to create a few pages of very focused content. The more focused it is, the more focused your Adsense ads will be. So spend some time thinking of some topics that you know something about, or would be willing to learn about. Make a list. Think about what you enjoy, or what you’re good at or know a lot about.

You know, I bought an ebook a long time ago that has a lot to say about making money with Google. You probably have heard of it, it’s called Google Cash. I’ll be saying some of the same things that they say in that ebook, but I think they do a better, more in-depth job. I strongly recommend getting it. In fact, I’m going to be reading back over it myself, since it's been a few years, and I have the latest edition now. It's good to refresh once in a while, and go over things you might have forgotten, you know? But anyway, Google Cash walks you through how to figure out your niche, find products to market and start promoting it through Adwords, and ebay, and classifieds. It’s mostly for the affiliate promotion I talked about earlier, but I’m recommending it also to help you brainstorm for Adsense sites. You can combine these two ideas and promote affiliate products on your site, too.

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I decided to dig out the notes I took back in 2006 from this ebook and some others, and confirm some things I've been saying. Yep, there it is- ‘build content-rich web sites around small niches that rank really well with search engines.’ There ya go! So you’re going to want to research, and use some of those websites like Wordtracker that I mentioned in one of my first posts. You’re looking for a high search volume, with a high KEI.

Well, I think I’m going to go read the latest edition of Google Cash and see what else I can share with you. If you can’t wait, or want a comprehensive guide though, I’d recommend getting it. That ebook was the one that started me down this path…. :-D Let me know what you think....

Ad-Sense

OK! So now you should know how to set up a website – that’s great! Now what you’re going to want to do is sign up for Adsense and Adwords.

You’ll be using the Adwords account to test out ads, and of course to advertise affiliate products, and your website. If you don’t know what Adwords is, go to Google, type in something, and then look to the right. Those ads are called Adwords! People type up ads and place bids on various keywords, and you only pay when someone clicks on one of your ads. And if you don’t know what Adsense is…. Well, have you ever been to a website that has rows of these Adwords ads on them? Google calls this Adsense. You can place these ads on your site, and if someone clicks on them, YOU get a cut of what they’re paying Google. Both of these are very useful tools. In fact, I make several thousand dollars each month using Adsense. So you’ll want to have an account there…. The links above will take you straight to the sign-up, so go ahead. That’s your homework for today. :-)

Weebling

Last time I left off referring you to a domain hosting recommendation, so I’ll just follow that up with something I recently ran across (and boy I wish I’d found it earlier!) The site is called Weebly and if you have absolutely no html skills whatsoever and are thinking “oh my gosh how do I build a website?” AND don’t want to pay for it… this is a cool place to check out. There are probably others, but I’ve been playing with this one, and I’m liking it. It’s pretty simple, you choose a layout design, and add paragraphs and pictures, etc. They do have some photos you can use, but I would suggest also opening up an account at iStockphoto or one of the other stock photography places online. It’s not free to get photos, but the ones they have are high quality, and they’ve got a massive selection. Photos can help websites look a lot nicer, less bare, more personal. Video is even better, if you’re selling something, but we’ll talk about that later. For now, just go check those websites out. I know a lot of affiliate programs have their own pages that they give you, but they all look the SAME. You want to stand out a little. Plus, if you use Adwords, and everyone is promoting something from make-a-million-dollars.com (I didn’t check to see if that’s someone’s site… it could be. Lol), you’ll probably have a hard time promoting your own affiliate link. So it’s better to have your own unique domain. OK, now go play. :-D

A Good Host...

Somewhere along the line, you will probably have to buy some domain names for whatever you're doing. Be it promoting affiliate products or programs, or starting a blog with a nice page of it's own, or selling adspace.... whatever it is, you're going to need a good host. I want to recommend one to you that I've had for at least 2 years now, and I'm very satisfied with. Not only are they a great deal, BUT they are now carbon neutral! That's right, they are GREEN.

Anyway, besides that awesome fact, their pricing plans are great. Oh yeah, I said that. Let me explain. Here is the plan I have. For $9.95 a month, I get 319 GB (grows by 2GB a week, apparently) and can host UNLIMITED domains and subdomains. How cool is that? Each domain cost $9.95 a year to register, which is a couple dollars higher than some other services, but you save SO MUCH on the hosting. I'm paying under $10 a month to host 57 domains, whereas with other services you'd be paying per domain. Beat that.

And because you came here for advice, which I deeply appreciate, I'm going to give you a code that will give you $20 off when you sign up for a year ($119.40 - $20 = $99.40) PLUS one free LIFETIME domain registration. Now that is worth a lot, since you normally have to re-register a domain once a year, for $9.95. I wish someone had given me that code when I signed up!

You can go check them out at Dreamhost.com. And if you want to take advantage of the $20 off and free lifetime domain... use the code PEARL15. Don't forget that! Talk to you later...