This web site is about Internet marketing, web site marketing, search engine marketing and affiliate marketing and the site is for beginners. Search engine optimization is covered as is web site construction, web site publishing, and affiliate marketing. Google adsense and Google Adwords is also discussed.
How I Got Started in Internet Marketing. I bought my first computer in 2001, took a web site publishing course at the local junior college in 2002 and published my first web site in 2003. Unfortunately, personal and day job considerations kept me on the sidelines, as far as web site marketing is concerned, during much of 2003 and 2004. In July, 2005, after retiring from my engineering day job, I began to seriously pursue Internet marketing again. This time, nothing was going to stop me from becoming an Internet guru!
I live in a New Orleans suburb, so two months after I got dead serious again about Internet marketing, I was shut down by Hurricane Katrina which took away my Internet access for months. But that nightmare is over now and I am once again pursuing my goals.
A number of reasons led me to develop this web site to help beginners-new web site publishers who want to make a few bucks off their web site:
Probably all readers have this "get rich quick" desire and it is a legitimate one. Financially, I am in fairly good shape without Internet income, but I need (want!) a lot more and the Internet is a great place to pick up some serious money. I'm just starting to see significant money roll in from my web sites and I like what I see.
I am very interested in politics and have been active for a number of years. As Howard Dean showed in his primary campaign for the presidency in 2003 - 2004, the Internet is a valuable tool. He was very successful in raising money on the Internet after starting with zero.
Like most Internet marketing beginners, I have read an enormous amount of literature on Internet marketing, web site publishing, search engine optimization, linking strategies, etc. I have gone up many blind alleys in my quest for knowledge and, just as I have discovered the right "way" to do it, Google changes their system and I have to go down another alley. I would like to use my experiences to help those just starting in Internet marketing. A strategy can be very difficult for the beginner to develop properly.
I can hardly search the Internet anymore looking for legitimate information. There are so many sites with clever titles, numerous ads, and often very little or no content. If you are like me, you don't want to waste your time looking at no-content sites that someone threw together hoping to get searchers to click their ads. I have quit clicking ads on all no-content sites. I have also taken a personal vow that any web page I put together will have legitimate content on it - information that I personally gathered and reviewed.
Listed below are a few of the Internet marketing Gurus That I Have Learned From. There are many others but these folks are ideal tutors for the Internet marketing beginner:
1. Brian Clark
Start here! If you are going to make money with Internet marketing or web site marketing, you have to be able to write. Brian is associated with the Copyblogger blog which offers extensive articles on Internet marketing and, in particular, copywriting. Brian can teach you to write!
2. Joel Comm.
I've put Joel Comm high on this list because he is an Google Adsense guru and I am involved in Adsense. Joel had a highly successful e-mail book he sold at a fairly high price and his sales were apparently great. Then early this year: Surprise! Surprise! Comm bundled his Adsense secrets together in a book - The Adsense Code - and sold it through Amazon for about $15, a tremendous reduction from the e-book price. Folks in the Internet marketing business are still asking why he would do such a "foolish" thing. But don't feel sorry for Joel Comm. He is a very smart guy. There is a method in his madness. In any event, get the book if you are interested in Adsense. Otherwise you will waste lots of time trying to learn about Adsense.
3. Ken Evoy.
Evoy has a free Internet marketing course that many beginners take. I learned a great deal from that course and, if you haven't taken it, do so. Ken has a great sense of humor and that helps when dealing with complex material. Evoy is president of Site.Sell.com and author of the classic course, "Affiliate Master's Course."
4. Brad Hill.
Brad wrote the "Dummies" book, "Building Your Business With Google For Dummies." I got some excellent ideas from the book, particularly the Google Adsense sections. I was just beginning Adsense at the time I read the book and had many questions. It should be noted that the book is now several years old and Google has made a number of changes in the Adsense program in those years.
5. Perry Marshall.
One of the benefits of getting into Internet marketing is that you inevitably meet Perry Marshall (not necessarily in person but through e-mails). Perry's great personality shows through and you can't help but like the guy. Perry's free course on Google Adsense has been helpful and each of his many e-mails is a learning experience on Adsense or some other other aspect of Internet marketing. Perry ought to get into politics! The country needs him.
6. Jill Whelan.
Jill Whelan is an search engine optimization consultant and operates the web site High Rankings, one of my favorites. She is so honest and straight forward that it is a pleasure to read her recommendations.
7. Rosalind Gardner.
Publisher of the "Net Profits Coach" ezine (e-mail newsletter), and author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online." I enjoy the Net Profits Coach ezine and get many ideas from it. You can't argue with success and Rosalind has certainly had success with Internet marketing and search engine optimization.
1. Google.com. Google is now the 800 pound gorilla in Internet marketing. You deal with them or you miss a lot of opportunities. And Google is generally nice to deal with. I think their motto is "Do no evil." I like that. Every day, the big boys feed us one lie after another and many of the lies can do a person real harm. Google doesn't do that. They, at least, try to do no evil.
Another nice thing about dealing with Google is that they want you to succeed - make money. Their AdWords and AAdSense programs give the little guy a chance to make a little money (or a lot depending on your skill level). Google ads - Adsense ads and/or Adwords ads - coupled with some web site content is one way to make big money on the Internet.
2. Google Adsense. My favorite Google program. In the Google AdSense program, Google runs relevant ads on a web site publisher's site and the publisher (you) gets paid as readers click the ads. The web site with which you apply for acceptance into the Adsense program has to be approved by an actual living, breathing Google representative so this site must be up to Google's standards. Once accepted, you don't have to have your additional sites approved by a Google representative - they trust you! You can place the Google coding on your other sites and you are in business.
3. Google Adwords. Google Pay Per Click (ppc) program where an advertiser can bid for his product's position in search engine results for a particular keyword. The advertiser's bid, if he is high bidder for the keyword, is the amount that the advertiser must pay if the pertinent ad is clicked. The Google ads generally appear on the right side or at the top of Google search pages. The advertiser pays only if someone clicks the advertiser's ads.
Some Internet marketing gurus believe that ppc is the wave of the future. I encourage the Internet marketing beginner to, at least, get familiar with ppc and understand the vocabulary. Later on, after the beginner has some experience with Internet marketing, he can jump into ppc if he wants to. I am heavy into ppc, myself, mainly to drive traffic to my content-rich sites where I have Google Adsense ads running.
In addition to the Adsense and Adwords programs, Google allows you to make money with your web site by placing their Google search box on your site. Admittedly, this source of income is small, but the searches allow you to determine what Internet searchers are searching for. And information like that means money in the Internet marketing business.
You can also make money with the Google referral program if your site attracts small to medium size businesses. (So far, I have no experience with this program.)
Google is constantly expanding their programs by which the web site publisher can make money. Hope they keep up the good work!
4. WordTracker. A great tool to help with keyword selection which is all-important for Internet marketing. The site has a free trial that you can use over and over.
5. Google Traffic Estimator. Another great tool for estimating the cash value of keywords but you have to join Google Adwords to use it. No problem! It cost nothing to join Adwords and you may want to become actively involved in Adwords campaigns later.
6. Copyblogger. One of the best, if not the best, web sites (blog) for learning Internet or Web writing....Headlines, openings, content, ads, what-have-you. Good for both old-fashioned web sites and blogs.
7. Linking. May as well learn to link...it is the only way you can beat the Google system of rankings. This has been my biggest weakness....my content is good, etc., but I ignored linking. You will probably run into me on this site....I have to get going on linking!
8. Search Information Sites. Information on "how to search" and some good web information sites, e.g., Wikipedia, etc.
1. Decide what the subject of your web site will be. Hint. Pick a subject you are interested in - you can switch to more commercial sites later. The first web site is for learning, not money making.
I chose Germany in World War 2 for my first commercial site because is the only subject I could consider myself even remotely an expert. (I was a kid in World War 2 and the Nazis both scared and fascinated me.) The web site was a labor of love for me and I really learned about the war as I prepared the site. Everyone is an expert (or thinks he is an expert) in some subject!
2. Make a list of good keywords: one-word and two, three, or four word phrases related to your chosen subject. Use WordTracker and Traffic Estimator - both discussed above - to choose the keywords. The keywords and keyword phrases should be the words that folks will use to search your search matter. The keywords should be the "language" of the niche you are writing about. For example, I used "World War 2," "Blitzkrieg," "German Leaders," "German Generals," "Holocaust," etc., for my keywords. These keywords worked fine for attracting traffic to my World War 2 web site, but the site was really not effective in converting the traffic to very much money. Still, I loved my work with the web site and continue to maintain it. It is my site - a work of love!
3. Optimize your web site. Use the web sites noted above and/or do a little searching on the web. If you search "Internet Marketing, " "Search Engine Optimization," "SEO," or similar keywords, you will be swamped by hundreds or thousands of search results. Most of these sites offer good, free advice on their web site. Of course, they want to sell you an e-mail book and that might be a good thing for you to do. The books are usually not expensive: $25 to $100. I wasted a lot of time trying to beat the system and get all my Internet Marketing education free and the free Internet marketing education cost me months of time. If you are in a hurry, buy one of the e-mail books. Some are very good.
4. Get into the search engine indexes. Once you get your web site optimized, you need to get the site in the search engine indexes, e.g., Google, so people can find the site through searches and you can make a little money. To get in the search engine indexes, you can apply directly to the search engine for listing in the search engine index or you can have another web site that is already indexed link to your site and search engines will find your site in a few weeks.
Once in the search engine indexes, there is a need to get as many incoming links to your web site as possible. Google gives these links quite a bit of weight in establishing your web site ranking in their search engine index.
You are now ready to rumble!
5. Commercialize your web site. Once you have your site up and running and are in the Google (or other search engine) index, you are ready to make some money. For the beginner who has prepared a legitimate content-rich site, I recommend the Google Adsense program as a starter. A few months in that program will teach you a lot and you might even make a few bucks.
From that point on, the sky is the limit. Affiliate programs might be the next step for you if you are interested in selling (or helping sell) a product. Again, try to pick a product that is related to your site or a product that you know enough about to write a web site on. Many beginners start with the Amazon affiliate program (mainly selling books), the world's largest affiliate program, I believe. I don't think you can get rich as an Amazon affiliate, but they, like Google, are good, honest folks who will teach you a lot and they won't cheat you.
Well written and optimized web sites are a good place to make money, but the beginner must become a professional by learning the fundamentals of Internet marketing. These fundamentals include web site construction, web site publishing, search engine optimization (seo), affiliate marketing, linking, and blogging. Knowledge of Google Adsense and Adwords is helpful to internet marketing.
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Last updated: 06/20/08
e-mail me @ vanc13@cox.net
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