and now, the real crippler . . .

So, we have touched on who to trust, what to sell, web sites, affiliation and healthy computing - and now, the real crippler.

Read any of the emails you receive that are trying to tell you or sell you the greatest ever way to make money on line and they will all have one thing in common. None of them tell you that the most important thing that your web site must have is TRAFFIC!

Far too many internet marketers think that once they have their site set up, the search engines will find them (assuming, of course, that they know what a search engine is) and people will be visiting all day long. How I wish it was that easy.

The most important and, often, the most tedious aspect of network marketing is ensuring that there is enough fresh and valuable information on your web site to encourage search engines to send you visitors. This isn't a simple exercise you do once and forget, this is something that has to be a part of your daily routine.

Again I have no fear in recommending a couple of basic guides one for search engine optimisation and the other for traffic generation.

These are not going to make you an expert but they will start you on your way and help you to realise where you can make improvements.

Arthur

Just a little re-cap

Now that you have a little insight (only) in what building an online business is all about, you might be thinking that it is either very easy or very difficult.

Actually, it is neither. If it was difficult there wouldn't be so many people trying to start one and, if it was easy, they wouldn't still be trying. They would have succeeded!

The most difficult aspect of an online business that many people cannot grasp is that it is no different to starting a business in your high street. It takes time and effort but without the associated costs.

If you have a family you might already have decided that the little information that you have is enough for you not to even try. This would be a terrible mistake because many parents manage to take advantage of the flexibility of working an online business and fit the business around family commitments. This is especially important if you are in a situation where you cannot do a full time job elsewhere.

We come back again to the choice of business you choose to build. There is a wealth of information available online, just do a Google search for 'home businesses'. Many opportunities are made to sound very simple. They talk about 'a click of the mouse' and a monthly income every day. Treat these with contempt.

Also, if a home business expects you to pay to join, there is a very good chance that it is not a business at all but a 'recruiting' scheme where you only get paid if you can get other people to join. It is unfortunate that the internet is a minefield for the unwary so heed the maxim "If it sounds too good to be true, it is!"

Businesses to steer clear of include envelope stuffing, data entry, surveys and anything that claims to be automatic or to do the work for you.

The safest and easiest way to build your online business is to become an affiliate. One of the biggest affiliated companies is Clickbank. Simply put, this is an agency that sells mainly digital products for the owner. There are also Amazon and eBay who sell physical products on behalf of producers. Check out their affilaite programmes and you will learn a great deal about the process since they all have a reasonable amount of information and help available to potential affiliates.

Deciding to build an online business at home is the easy part but you must spend all the time necessary to discover which type you want to own. This stage cannot be skimped - without a good decision at this point you are laying the foundation stone for failure.

Research. Research. Research. Ask for advice. It will pay big dividends in the long term.

Arthur
http://a.gd/greatguides

Are we hurting yet?

As I have gone through the very basic information relating to building an online business, I have wondered how many of you reading this are developing, as I did, unusual aches and pains.

Obviously there is a lot of concentrated effort involved in compiling web sites, posting content, designing your articles, collecting information and other online research, signing up for affiliate programmes and so on and, while you are doing it, it isn't always apparent that you are injuring yourself - until you stop.

Before I go any further into the way to build your own business online, maybe it is time to highlight the need to be aware of how working at a computer keyboard for long periods can actually damage your health.

The first problem I noticed was that, after a good night's sleep, I would wake with a very stiff neck. It took me a while to discover that it was the angle at which I had been holding my head while typing that had inflamed some of my nerves. It was only when I discovered a book on healthy computing that I realised.

If you find yourself having strange aches, blurred vision caused by watering eyes, you owe it to yourself to examine how you use your computer. Often a simple thing like getting up and walking around for a few minutes once or twice an hour is all you need to do to solve the problem. Healthy computing has a lot of hints and tips to help - it certainly saved me from a lot of bother.

Although the hints have worked very well for me, if you have this book and apply the common sense advice but still have problems - seek your doctor's assistance.

Arthur
http://a.gd/greatguides

Product, website, what next?

So, you now have your web site and, hopefully, you have your product proudly displayed.

What's next?

The first thing you need to do is to set up a method by which your visitors can buy from you - that is, after all, why you started this whole process, isn't it?

I think it is safe to say that the most popular payment processor on the internet is PayPal for Europe and USA. If you go to http://www.paypal.com/ you can sign up for an account (it's free) and then upgrade to a premium business account (also free - though you will pay for it in their transaction charges once people start sending you money).

One of the good things about PayPal, apart from the fact that buyers do not need to disclose their credit card details to you, is that people can pay you even if they don't have a PayPal account. They can simply use their credit card.

Once you have your PayPal account set up, you can complete your web site by installing a payment button on your sales page which will connect to PayPal who, in turn, will process the payment and send the customer to your down-load page or to a page that will explain how their product will be delivered to them.

While we are looking at sales, we really ought to be looking, also, at collecting the names and addresses of people who actually visit your site so that you can keep in touch with them and try to sell more products to them in future.

For this you will need an auto-responder of which there are several, both paid and free, to choose from. The auto-responder instructions will tell you how to use it and how to install a 'capture' box on your sales page.

Is it all starting to sound a bit over-whelming?

I'm not surprised - but I am surprised that, if you have read so far, you have not asked for help, information sources and the easy way of doing all these things.

If you don't want to post a reply, you can contact me at aw21637 at yahoo dot com where 'at' = @ and 'dot' = . and there are no spaces.

I can provide free resources and advice - and even build your site for you, if necessary.

Arthur
http://a.gd/greatguides

So, what about a website?

Once you have decided how you are going to build your home business, you need to decide how you will bring it to the world.

If the route you choose to start is by way of affiliate marketing, you don't need to worry about your own website straight away because they are all provided by the companies you work with - all you need to do is drive traffic to them - but that, as they say, is for another day.

What options do you have for obtaining a website?

Nowadays it can be embarassingly easy to have a web site. There are many 'instant' site bulders out there which, using intuitive interfaces and wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) editors can enable just about anybody to build a reasonable looking web site for themselves.

There are also, many people offering web site building services who will build your web site for you.

If you decide to build your own web site, it is a very good idea to learn the basics of HTML which is the language (code) that websites need to be written in to be published onto the internet. This will enable you to make adjustments to your web site and make changes without necessarily having to use your wysiwyg editor.

If you decide that it would be better to have the site built for you, remember what I said about the ease with which web sites can be built. Get a few quotes from different builders and make it clear to them that you are comparing prices. There is still a tendancy for builders to charge four figure fees for web sites that might only take a few hours, at most, to build.

If you are not looking to maintain the site yourself, you need to find out how much a regular maintenance contract will cost. Initially you might be needing a lot of maintenance so it might be better to discover the hourly rate you will have to pay. At this point, I will say that if you are not going to maintain the site yourself, you will miss out on a major learning area which will enable you, in future, to build more web sites and expand your business web penetration.

In my opinion, you should be building your site for yourself, maintaining it and, in the process, learning all you need to know about HTML, hosting, servers and FTP - again, that is for another day.

Arthur
http://a.gd/geatguides

What will your home based business sell?

Quite often it is true to say that many people taking up the notion of starting a home based business will hit their very first hurdle when they try to decide what to sell.

The first thing that hits them is that there is nothing that cannot be sold on the internet! Somebody, somewhere, is selling products and services that seem so remote from internet marketing that, unless you can get your head round the fact that internet marketing is no different to off line marketing, you will stumble at this hurdle.

Much advice to internet marketers stresses the notion that you sell what you are passionate or knowledgeable about. The justification is that it will be easier for you to promote such a product. But is that true? My own opinion is that it is not.

So, how do you decide what to sell?

The most important aspect of what you sell, at least to start with, is that it is easily delivered (preferably automatically, on receipt of payment) and that somebody else deals with problems and support issues leaving you to concentrate on fnding customers.

If you want to develop a local business, you might want to visit local suppliers and ask if they have an affiliate programme or would let you be a commission sales person for them (which is the same as being in their affiliate programme). If an affiliate programme exists, there will already be rates of commission established which you can either accept or reject but if there isn't, you will need to negotiate a level of commission that will be agreeable to you and the supplier.

It is likely that you will want to establish as wide a customer base as possible - world wide is as wide as it gets - in which case you will have to do some research to see who you could work with. If you look at Clickbank, eBay, Amazon and other major product providers, you will discover that they have affiliate programmes that you can join for free and a large range of products that you can start to sell almost immediately.

All you need to do now is decide what to sell, whether to build your own web site or not (recommended that you do) and find out how to get people looking at your offers.

To build your home business, you really do need expert help.
http://a.gd/greatguides

Who can you trust?

Setting up a home based business can be very exciting and there are many challenges, not the least of which is learning who you can trust online to help you.

As you start your research into the technicalities of setting up a web site, auto responder, sales page and so on, you will discover just how many "experts" there are out there who are ready to claim the 'fail safe' methodologies and 'guaranteed' results. It really is like walking in a minefield for the unwary learner. You need to keep out of this trap.

Many people who advertise various programmes are affiliates. They promote them for a commission and, unfortunately, many of them have not actually used the products that they are trying to sell to you.

Many people who advertise various programmes are also claiming to have orriginated them but, really, all they have done is bought the rights to rename and repackage a programme developed by someone else. They might not be able to offer the after sales service you might require because they buy and sell on an 'as is' basis.

Before you start making major decisions, you need to find someone who has a good web presence, a reputation and, preferably, introduced by someone who has received advice and products from them. An important consideration in your decision making must be the simplicity and comprehensiveness of the instructions you receive. There is no point in trying to follow someone who presumes a level of knowledge that you do not have instead of giving comprehensive, step-by-step instructions. Once you have settled on this person, you need to follow their advice and resist the temptation to switch allegiances in the face of fantastic sounding offers to get you earning $000s by tomorrow lunch time.

Fot myself, I took a long time to realise how important it is to have a 'main' adviser so that I could concentrate on acquiring 'relevant' knowledge and have no reservations at all in recommending that you consider Kevin Riley for your mentor and teacher. I promise, you won't regret it.

Arthur Webster
http://a.gd/greatguides

So, you want to start online?

So, you want to start online but you don’t have any money and need some ideas on how to get some.

It is fair to say that if you were starting a business off line, you would know exactly how to raise money. You would create your business model, create a business plan and go to the bank and ask for a business development loan.

Online is not so easy because you are almost certainly looking at a ‘virtual’ business which will have no assets a bank will look at as collateral and you will probably find that your business plan doesn’t really need that much in the way of financing. You would also, quite likely, not be able to calculate a business plan because you have no experience upon which to base estimates.

You need to be looking at ways to raise capital from the moment you decide the route you will take.

The most obvious source of capital is lying around in your home, your attic or your garage. Just look at all the stuff you have and decide which you need to keep – the rest you can sell! Whether you use eBay, a garage sale, a car boot sale or a house clearance agent, you will be able to achieve a result.

Once you have exhausted the goods that you can sell, you need to look at your own personal abilities and see if there is a market for them. If you can cook, you might be able to get part time work in a hotel, bar or restaurant. There are plenty of people willing to pay to have their ironing done for them. Do you like cleaning? Do you like dog walking. Do you like child minding? The list of services that other people are prepared to pay for is never ending. Best of all, they often advertise for people to do it.

One small warning.

You might find that you like doing the things you choose to do so much that the idea of starting online will fade into the background.

Arthur Webster
http://a.gd/greatguides

Earn extra money from home.

Earning extra money from home is very appealing but not everyone can do it. One of the quickest and easiest ways to become successful is by working online at home following a well thought out, step-by-step tutorial.
Before you start, you need to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. After the evaluation, you can determine if you can manage your own online business. Aside from the evaluation process, you must know how to plan and organize. You should be able to work alone because now you're the boss and all business decisions will be made by you.
It is often said that online businesses can be run with few problems. Well, this is very wrong because with an online business, you still have to deal with business problems and risks. You can't eliminate such risks because they go hand in hand with any business undertaking, both online and offline. You can reduce the risks that you're bound to deal with in the future by choosing the best home-based business that will work for you.
Entrepreneurs are known to be self-starters. Organizing your time is a difficult task but if you want to run a home-based online business, you needd to be able to do it. Remember, you don’t have a boss that you can rely on. This is your business and you have to be responsible for it at all times.
Running your own business would also mean that you have to deal with different kinds of people. You will encounter demanding customers, moody customers, grateful customers, happy customers and so on. To become a successful home-based business owner, you should know how to deal with them individually. You should know the quirks of every person that you encounter so that you can address them and the situation correctly.
Running an online business is all about your attitude and character. According to some experts who have done research, there are certain traits that a business owner should possess. As mentioned earlier, business owners are risk-takers, self-starters, and know how to deal with different kinds of people.
Those traits and characteristics, alone, are not enough. You have to have more than that. Another trait that you should possess is excellent decision making. Since you're the boss, you should be able to make quick yet effective decisions. Some situations are filled with pressures but despite the pressures, you still need to make informed and wise decisions. As owner of your online business, you have no one else to rely on when it comes to business related decisions.
To be an effective online business owner, you must have lots of energy and a superior work ethic. Owning an online business may mean working late hours and weekends. However, you must not feel pressured by your tasks, view them as challenges and strive to overcome them. Your efforts will be rewarded by the profits rolling in.
If you already know the responsibilities of a business owner, then you can assess if you can become successful in an online business. Working at home on a home-based business requires dedication and hard work. You must be able to monitor your finances, tasks, inventory, work schedules, and many other things.
Good luck and you can use this training to ensure that your chosen home-based business becomes a success and helps you to earn extra money from home.

What a maze!!

I thought it would be a good idea to start looking at making some money using the internet. The loss of an eye and not being able to drive has really restricted me to working at home so it wasn't a major decision.

For quite a while, now, I have been looking into the world of internet marketers - and what a world it is! There seems to be a guru on every street corner, an expert in every gutter and a rip off merchant behind every door you open.

It's a nightmare!

Just finding someone to trust, who offers services and information that you can afford, is a full time task of its own. The most confusing aspect is the cross promotion that goes on in such a way that you are not always aware of whose product you are looking at. It is not unusual to receive ten to twenty emails, all with an identical message and all promoting the same latest, greatest, smoke and mirrors, miracle cure.

In my home working blog I have been able to receive a huge amount of information from many sources (average 900 posts per month) and make it generally available but, one of the people who has really impressed me with his consistently good advice has been Kevin Riley.

While I can't claim to know Kevin (I would love to use that greatly beloved phraseology "My friend, Kevin, called me from his home in Japan . . . ) I have been very impressed by his willingness to help and the fact that he does not keep sending me emails exhorting me to buy the latest widget.

Learn more about Kevin and his company.

There are a few of his products that I want to promote, but that can wait.