The Girl With A Pearl

No More Crickets

2008-07-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2008-06-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-05-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

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...

Some Researching Tools

2008-05-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

OK, so let's say you either want to create a website to put Adsense on, or find affiliate products that are really being searched for... I have a couple tools here that will help you find good keywords.

The first of these is Google Trends. In Google Trends, you can type in words and see what the search volume is for the past few years, or however long they have data for. Unfortunately, unless I'm just not seeing it, they don't have actual numbers. So once you find a good keyword that's working for you on a website, you may want to type that in next to future searches, to compare, and go with words that have an equal or greater amount of searches.

Second is Wordtracker . Wordtracker has a free version and a paid version. With Wordtracker, you can type in a keyword and get related keywords that are also being searched. They will analyze the words you choose and show you which ones have the most competition. You want to pick words with high KEI numbers, although sometimes there are exceptions to the rules.

Now, say you found a product you think people will buy. Before you sign up to become an affiliate and go about promoting it, you may want to check the adCenter Labs. Here, they have a form to detect online commercial intention. How cool is that? They have a little explanation of it on the main page, but basically you're looking for a number over 0.5 .

That's it for today!

Affiliating

2008-05-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

Today I'm just going to say a little about affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing can be a great way to earn some cash. Depending on your product, you can earn a little, or you can earn a lot. I'll use a small example below, of how to become an affiliate.

Many websites offer the opportunity to become an affiliate. Some let you sign up for free, and some ask for a fee (sometimes monthly). But if you work smart at marketing it, then the fees don't really matter. Don't let fees stop you if you believe in the product and are willing to do some marketing!

OK, so now for a little example. Take HealthyPetNet.com. If you click on that link, you'll notice a bunch of numbers at the end. That's because it's my affiliate link. :-) To become an affiliate, you would click on the 'Opportunity' link, or, on some sites they'll label it the 'affiliates' link, to get started. You would, from there, get your own personal link or webpage to promote the product. They track your sales through your individual code. When you make sales, you get a commission! Some programs pay a lot, some pay a little. This one brings in maybe $100 a month for me, and all I really do is use Adwords to promote it. But then, I have to pay for those ads. I really should work harder on that one.

Anyway, that's a brief explanation of affiliate programs... stay tuned for more tips tomorrow.

Free Google Ads

2008-05-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

Since we're still getting to know eachother, I thought I'd say a few more things before I give you the link I want to give you.

First, I'm a real person. I know when I read blogs and marketing websites, it all sounds so businessy. I hate it, because I know they're just trying to sell me something. So I don't completely trust them. And I guess you shouldn't trust people you don't know, right away. I want to earn your trust. :-D The only way I know how to right now is to invite you to my Myspace page. Now, not to be rude, but please don't request to be my friend on this page. This is reserved for people I know, or at least semi-know. If you want to add me to your friends on Myspace, please go to this profile instead. I will gladly approve you! I'll try to post some updates there as well, but this is my main blog site for making money online. I have another site where you can learn about my passions: www.ozville.org There isn't really much about ME on the page, but it's my website.

Now for the thing I wanted to share with you today! I'll be sharing a mix of resources on here, and I will definitely point you towards things with no price tag, but today I want you to consider this ebook. There's a reason I am giving this to you first. It has to do with how to get free ads with Google Adwords, and you'll want to know how to use Adwords for marketing any affiliate products online. So you might as well read this first. I did buy this myself, and have read it. I have not applied it yet, since I actually just got it yesterday. lol. So yes, you can do fine without this advice, but he's definitely got some ideas that will save you, and make you, some money. If you can't afford it right now, come back and get it once you're making some money online. :-D So here it is: How To Get Free Google Ads.

Second thing (and this one is free), is a site I've just discovered and am exploring, myself. They seem to rotate the videos (or maybe that's just what happens once you sign up with them), and I'm watching the one that's on there right now, but there is one I watched last week was very informative. They explained how they started from scratch on Adwords after a bug in Google dumped their site from the search results. They guide you through setting up your Adwords campaigns in a way that makes it easier to test and compare your ads, and give you tips on how to write a good ad. That video is about 53 minutes long. But anyway, they've got a lot of goodies. Video is so great, isn't it? Reading can sometimes put me to sleep. :-P OK, go here: Stompernet.net

See you soon....

Enter: the Girl

2008-05-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Gosh, what do I say? Well, I've got a little explanation of what my blog will be, right over there to your left. So read that. OK, done now? Well, a little about me then, I suppose!

My name is Kendal. I live in Los Angeles, and am pursuing acting. Since being an actress requires a really flexible work schedule (because acting doesn't pay), I decided that I wanted to find a way to earn my living with the internet. Since one of my goals in life is to travel and live in many different locations, the internet job would fit in perfectly with those plans as well! So I began searching, and researching, and testing and trying and failing and succeeding... The more financial freedom I gained, the more I really wanted this for the rest of my friends and family. The more I could relax about money, the more I could enjoy life. I know money doesn't buy happiness, and the love of money is the root of all evil, but sometimes it's nice to be able to say, buy the brand of [insert food item here] that you like instead of the cheapest one on the shelf.

Now, I'm still in the beginning stages of my internet career, but I do make several thousand dollars a month, and don't need a day job. I was able to buy a house (OK, a mobile home. With an ocean view!) this past year, and am paying off my credit cards. :-) I'm able to breath more easily than I have in a long time. I've lived a long time making less than $30,000 or so a year. When I first moved to L.A. I was only making about $12,000! So I've come a long way. But my goal is to have several streams of income to count on, and basically have enough time and money to do all the things I've dreamed of. And I'm inviting you to share in the knowledge I gather in this quest. See, all you need to do is come to this blog, while I'm spending all day finding these ebooks and websites and videos for you. :-P You better thank me for this!

I'm going to try to make this a daily or at least an every-other-daily blog, but things come up. I look forward to helping you on your way to financial freedom. It's a wonderful feeling.