Wallet Relief Blog

John Delavera is going live TODAY with his annual all-out holiday bonanza, and early birds get the best offer by far. If any of you don’t yet know who John Delavera is, it’s time to find out, as he has one of the best reputations in the business. So all webmasters, online marketers, internet business owners… head on over and check out Santa Deal Time 2008 now! Here’s the link:

http://getwise.info/about/SantaDeal

Season’s Greetings!

The turbo internet marketing event of 2008 is about to launch … the forces are warming up. Get in now on the direct announcement list so you don’t miss out - the sign-up form is here:

GetWise.info/about/TurboBigBang

John Delavera has just opened the gates of his famous annual “Santa Deal Time”, which is truly phenomenal this year.

You want to check it out early, since the price goes up daily for one week, and then he takes it down forever.

Time is money in this case, so check it out now:

http://getwise.info/about/SantaDeal

The Viral Marketing Giveaway 7 just launched, and for a limited time you can instantly download over $18,000 Worth of hand picked online money making and Internet marketing tools–software, ebooks, guides–without spending 1 penny! Grab them here:

Viral Marketing Giveaway 7

How many times have you heard about a great home business opportunity?  Probably more than you care to remember.  But to go along with this how many of these home business opportunities ended up being a scam?  Again, probably quite a few.  Hopefully, you were never the victim of any of these scams.  But unfortunately there are others who probably fell for these “opportunities.”  The fact of the matter is that these scammers would not be wasting their time if they were not making any money.  And as long as people continue to get mixed up in this business, these scammers are going to stick around to trick more and more people.

The best way to avoid a home business scam is to thoroughly research each opportunity before you move forward with it.  This means doing much more than simply reading a bit about it online.  You may get lucky and end up with a good home business opportunity, but chances are that you will not.  Not only will you want to read what is available on the site itself, but you will also want to search for other information as well.  Check with third party review sites and on message boards and forums.  You may find out soon enough that a certain company has been reported as being nothing more than a scam.

You may also want to check with the Better Business Bureau if you are thinking about getting involved with a home business opportunity that you are not sure of.  They will be able to tell you if they have any complaints on file.  If they do, you will want to avoid the opportunity at all costs.  But if it appears that a company is doing business the right way, you can continue your research.

Before you decide to do anything, attempt to get in touch with the company that you are interested in.  Can you get them on the phone?  Do they respond to your emails?  If you cannot even talk to a company before you start, there is no chance that they will be around when you need them.  This is one test that you can run early on in order to ensure that you are dealing with a reputable company.  If you do happen to get an employee on the phone ask them questions in order to get some feedback on the company.  Anything that will give you better insight into the home business opportunity is a good question.

Overall, home business scams are all over the place.  Do your part in putting them out on the street by not falling prey.  The best way to do this is through extensive research and questioning. 

Affiliate programs are a great way to increase traffic to and sales for your web site. There are several affiliate tracking software solutions that keep track of sales, clicks, and commissions.

Affiliate tracking software solutions come in a variety of packages.  Software for a click-based program allows you to pay affiliates a set rate for each visitor to your web site.  Look for click-based software with helpful features including click-through tracking, link code generation (keep banners current and linked correctly), referral tracking, and detailed stats.

Other software lets you set up a commission or flat rate pay for each potential customer sent via your affiliate member.  You can also customize the commission schedule for individual affiliates.  Commission-based programs can be more economical because you only pay affiliates when their referrals generate sales.  

You don’t have to choose between click-based or commission affiliate tracking software.  Programs are available that let you use both pay arrangements.

Many affiliate tracking software solutions now have private affiliate network capability.  This feature is helpful for those with multiple web sites.  It lets you run one affiliate program for all your web sites on your own private network as opposed to setting up affiliate programs for each site.

How does it work?

The basic premise of affiliate programs is the same for all affiliate tracking software solutions.  An affiliate joins your program by logging into the member area on your web page.  There the affiliate can get the tools needed for linking to your site such as banner codes, text links, and product images. 

When a visitor clicks from the affiliate’s web page to yours, the tracking software places a cookie on the visitor’s computer to track him as he browses your web site.  If the visitor buys a product or service from your web site, the tracking software notes the affiliate responsible for said visitor and records the sale in a database.  The Administrator and the affiliate are both notified of the sale via email.

Affiliate software makes its easy to monitor the success of your affiliate programs by tracking the number of times banners or links are displayed, number of visitors who linked to your web site, and how many of these visits resulted in a sale.  In addition, the software keeps account of commissions earned by and payouts to affiliates.

Helpful Features

Software packages are easy to install and manage.  However, software companies will gladly lend a hand to technically challenged web entrepreneurs. Look for affiliate software tracking solutions that provide reliable tech support and don’t charge setup fees or monthly charges.  The software should be easy to customize for your specific needs.

Other helpful features include:

Unlimited affiliates categories
Automated fraud protection
Performance rewards for your best affiliates
Lifetime upgrades
Multi-level marketing (affiliate program promotes itself and your web site).

Sources

Cosmicperl (cosmicperl.com)
Affiliate Wiz (affiliatewiz.com)
Quality Unit (qualityunit.com)

Traffic on the freeway is bad.  Traffic on the Internet is good.  With over 60 million web sites on the Net, you need a solid strategy for steering customers to your home business web site.

Search Engines

Search engines are the yellow pages for a home business web site.  Over 80% of Internet surfers use search engines to find information on the web.  To get the most traffic to your site, list with the big search engine players Yahoo, Google, and MSN.  Smaller search engines also get results from the big three so you’ll be covered in case customers visit less popular engines.

Looking Good

Your home business web site can be simple or complex but it must be functional and attractive.  Make sure your site does what it is supposed to do - provide customers with concise, useful information about your product or service.  Be wary of making things too complicated.  The site should be easy to navigate or customers will look elsewhere.

Your home business web site should also look professional, not cheap.  If you aren’t design savvy, spend money on a good web designer.  The investment will pay off by attracting more people to your web page.

On-line Ads

The Internet has many sites where you can list your home business web site for free.  To guarantee the greatest exposure, place your ad on several (20 or more) sites and repeat the process every month.

Banner advertisements can be as effective as TV spots in increasing customer awareness of your business.  A banner ad should be direct, i.e. promote a benefit of rather than just the name of the product or service.  Try participating in a banner exchange program such as LinkExchange that connects your home business web site to other company sites that have similar customer bases.

Affiliate programs offer an excellent opportunity to promote your home business web site.  Affiliate businesses post links to your web page on their sites.  You pay them a commission or set fee based on the amount of traffic sent to your web site.  Pay arrangements vary and can be based on the number of people who visit your site or the number of customers who purchase your product.

Bloggin’ It

Bloggers are the hot new information medium.  Getting them to write about your home business web site is an excellent way to gain exposure to potential customers. 

Technorati Blog Directory provides a listing of blogs by industry.  Do your research here to determine which blogs might be interested in writing about your business.  Send a short, personal email to a few blog writers describing your web site and asking the blogger to write about it.  Offer the writer something in return, for example, free product or a link back to his blog on your web site.

Off-line Ads

Cruising Down the Highway

Your car is a moving billboard for a home business web site.  Window decals and bumper stickers are inexpensive ways to get the word out about your web site.  Spend a few extra dollars for a personalized license plate with your web address.

Old Media Standby

Regardless of what the bloggers say, people still read the printed page.  Run ads in the classifieds of large and small papers, trade magazines, and free weeklies.  Your choice of print media will depend on the product or service offered and whether you do business locally or nationwide.

Sources

Gaebler Ventures, “Advertising on the Web” (gaebler.com)
Data Synthesis, “Internet Solutions for Today” (ictks.com)
“Top Ten Ways to Promote your Website” (agora-business-center.com)
“Using Blog PR to Promote Your Site” (sitepronews.com)

If you are new to the internet world you are not alone.  There are a lot of people who are not too familiar with the internet, but want to join in on the profits that are available.  If this sounds like you one of the most important things that you will need to learn is how to promote your web site. 

When it comes to promoting your web site there are many options available to you.  The good thing is that a lot of them are free of cost, or will only set you back a few dollars.  But at the same time there are also a lot of ways that you can promote your web site that will cost you quite a bit of money.  But either way, if you learn what you are doing you will be able to get the word out about your web site.

As far as free web site promotion is concerned, one of the best things that you can do is join in on the discussions that are taking place at some of the online forums.  For instance, if your new web site is targeted towards the clothing industry, you will want to find forums that discuss this topic.  When talking with others you can run ideas past them, and also market your new web site to them.  Make sure that you add your web site to your forum signature.  This way, every time you make a post anybody that reads it will be able to click on your link.  Believe it or not this will drive plenty of traffic to your site.

Another low cost way to promote your web site is to submit articles to article directories.  This can be done in a matter of minutes.  All you have to do is write an article that coincides with your web site, and then submit it to directories.  In addition, you will be able to add an author’s resource box after the article.  This again will allow readers to click on your link and head straight for your site.  Over time different article directories will pick up on your articles.  In turn, your links will begin to show up all over the internet, which of course means more traffic directed to your web site.

Overall, web site promotion is something that you will want to learn about early on.  But do not let this scare you away.  There are many ways that you can promote your new web site to the internet world.  With a bit of research, patience, and determination, you will be successfully promoting your web site.  And with successful promotion comes traffic and profits!  And isn’t this what everybody wants?

Many of my readers may already own a health-related blog or may be contemplating starting a website related to diet, weight loss, or nutrition information.  After all, diet and nutrition are always popular topics, and many home businesses or work at home on the internet situations promote or advertise products having to do with weight loss or nutritional supplements. A new service has become available that provides original private label rights articles in this diet and nutrition niche on a monthly basis at an affordable price.  The articles are perfect for blog publishing or other web content uses, and the overall project is overseen by a physician concerned with quality content.  If this niche interests you, don’t miss checking it out early before the competition catches on.  Just go to http://www.diet-nutrition-article-niche.com/ for more info on these private label rights articles for the diet & nutrition niche. 

Many people who choose to work at home engage in online businesses. Building a home Internet business is challenging and once you really got the hang of it, you could earn good income as well. There many areas to choose from when building a home internet business. What really matters most is that you are knowledgeable on the topic or area that you want to engage into in order to get ahead of the pack.

Before you start building you home Internet business, it would be wise to get as much information possible regarding the area you want to enter. There are many ways of getting your information through the Internet. You can try surfing open sources to save cost, but most of the time these open sources are very limited in terms of information. Your local library could help you. There should be some information regarding the area you want to engage in; however, you might not find what you need as easily as typing a word and generating information. Now, if you don’t have the patience or the time to spend in libraries to get the information you need, you could always go to paid information sites on the Internet. Finding a good source of information on the Internet could be a bit tricky though, so it is best to rely on the well-known sources although they may cost you a bit more than those sites which purport to offer comprehensive results for lower price.

Once you have enough information regarding the area you want to engage in, you can start building a home Internet business. For starters, you should get a reliable computer and a fast Internet connection. If you are good at building website, then you can start right ahead and design your web page. However, if you are not so techno savvy when it comes to building a website, it is best for you to hire someone who can give your website a professional look. Building a home Internet business with a professional looking website will attract more customers than those badly designed ones. Remember that being in the Internet business means that you will be judged by the look of your website. Having a good homepage would convey to the reader a sense of professionalism, which inspires trust and confidence. Your website is your store so make it look good. People like to shop in a store with well arranged merchandise so try not to clutter your website unnecessarily.

Soliciting ideas and comments regarding your website would help a lot. You can ask your friends and colleagues what they think about your site and what they suggest you should improve on. You can also join forums and invite people to take a look at your site and give their comments. You can easily find forums where building a home Internet business is a hot topic. There are many techno savvy people in forums who are very willing to share their ideas so don’t be shy and post your questions. An added value of joining is that you can invite these same people to your website once you are ready to launch. Who knows, those people could become one of your customers, too.