Internet Marketing Made Simple

Over the past few years, blogging has become extremely popular. Nearly everyone who tries to make money online usually creates a blog very early in their Internet Marketing career, and for a very good reason – blogs alone can put serious cash into your bank account.

The big problem is that a lot of folks don’t use blogs properly. There was a time where you could have thrown up a simple Blogger blog, write a couple short articles, put up some Google AdSense ads, attract some web traffic, and then watch the money roll in.

That doesn’t work any longer.

Sure, you might make enough to pay for a few beers, but it’s not going to put a roof over your head. The good news is that blogs are still extremely lucrative and can put thousands of dollars into your pocket every single month – if you know what you’re doing.

The premier blogging tool, hands down, is Wordpress. It’s free, works well, and is easy to use. The only requirement is that you have a hosting account such as BlueHost (who we use to host our websites and recommended) to host your website. In your hosting account control panel, you can automatically install Wordpress on your website in less than a minute by using Fantastico or Simple Scripts.

However, the key to making real money with blogs is to get creative. Yes, it’s a huge cliché…but you have to think out of the box. That’s why I use these 6 simple profit machines to maximize my income potential with Wordpress…feel free to steal them and build your own blogging empire:

Profit Machine #1: Authority Sites

Setting up simple Niche Authority Sites is one of the easiest ways to start making a profit online, but it’s also the most time consuming. I wrote out an extensive step-by-step guide to building your first simple blog in a post I made over a year ago: Make Money Online – Step-By-Step Method

Note: If you have no money to your name, you can use a Blogger blog to build your first authority site (as I recommend in the above guide), but I do recommend upgrading to Wordpress as soon as possible. It is far more customizable and offers you more opportunity to expand. Wordpress also provides a free blogs via their website, but you want the self-hosted option so you can upload your own themes and plugins.

It takes serious commitment to start one of these and stick to it – and you won’t see any immediate returns. However, if you post daily for 2 to 3 months, have a professional design and monetize it properly, you’ll be light years ahead of competing websites and you will able to pull in at least a few hundred dollars per month.

The real trick to becoming an authority site (rather than a boring “blog”) is to either position your company, your brand or yourself as an expert. This is a big stumbling block for a lot of people – most feel like they’re not an expert in any particular area. That’s simply not true. When I asked my Dad if he was an expert in anything, he said no…but that’s definitely not the case. He’s a perfect example…

My Dad spent 30+ years as a police officer and learned some extremely valuable skills that you wouldn’t expect. One of them was the ability to write grants that generated millions of dollars for equipment and additional personnel for his department. His success rate was incredibly high – over 90% of the grants he submitted were approved. That’s unheard of and it’s a skill that companies, organizations and individuals would pay thousands of dollars to learn. Starting an authority site about grants would be perfect for him.

You really need to think about your experiences and your interests. Even if you truly don’t feel like an expert on a topic, you can do research to become one. Spend an afternoon learning the basic “rules” of your niche and you’ll know more than 80%+ of the population, and that qualifies you as an expert.

Once you’ve established a topic for your authority site, spend some time doing research on the types of phrases people are searching for using a free tool such as Google’s Keyword Tool or a premium tool such as Micro Niche Finder. (MNF is highly recommended – it makes it very easy for you to find profitable long-tail keywords and to quickly assess your competition.)

Once you’ve found several keyword phrases that people are searching for, you focus your site’s content around those keywords and post to it daily. You build momentum for your new website by talking about your authority site on other blogs and niche forums, then offer to be a guest blogger for other popular blogs.

The potential with an authority blog alone is extremely high. It’s a very flexible model that can be expanded almost indefinitely, but it’s just one way to make money with blogs. Here’s a method that’s a little less conventional…

Profit Machine #2: Niche Storefronts

A lot of people don’t know that you can actually setup an entire online store using Wordpress. Whether you want to sell items directly from your blog, or appear as a third-party store and simply refer customers to Amazon as an affiliate, Wordpress can help you establish these profit machines easily.

There are a couple of different ways you can do it…

a.) You can download a theme that converts your blog into a storefront. Some of these themes are fairly advanced and require a fee to download, but you may be able to find some for free. Once you have your website established, you can use Paypal to accept payments. Some of the more advanced themes even have an “Add to Cart” feature built in.

b.) You can download a plugin that automatically pulls in products from websites such as Amazon or eBay. These plugins can automatically include a picture and short description from those sites, integrated with your affiliate link. There are free and premium options for these types of plugins, but the premium options typically provide more options and flexibility.

If you decide to establish a store, you will want to make sure that you add some unique content (as the content you add will be from Amazon or eBay and won’t boost your search engine rankings) and also implement a professional design. This is effectively a type of authority site, but you will providing direct links to products or services rather than information. It’s harder to get traffic to these types of sites, but the quality of customers is often higher as they’re looking to buy a particular type of product.

Profit Machine #3: Membership Sites

Membership sites are a tried-and-true method for generating long-term cash. There’s so much to say about memberships that we created an entire course called Membership Blueprints. With that said, using Wordpress to power and protect a membership site is a very smart way to go.

In fact, we use Wordpress for our Simple Cash Blog Membership, our most popular resource. It’s extremely easy for anyone to do. First, install Wordpress in the location you want your member’s area. For example, you’ll want to install Wordpress in a location such as: http://yourdomain.com/members/

After you’ve installed it, you simply need to password protect either individual posts or the entire member’s area. For the Simple Cash Blog, we password protected the entire member’s directory in under 2 minutes using a tool called the Instant Membership Site Creator, which we sell for less than $20. If you want to password protect individual posts or provide different levels of access, you can use a plugin such as s2Member.

The best part about using Wordpress for a membership site is that you can actually create content for the membership site in advance and schedule it to be posted at a future date. Your membership site could have a full year’s worth of content in queue without you ever having to touch it. (Of course, this might not be possible depending on the type of membership or the support you need to provide.)

The toughest part of the membership creation process is that you need to write an extremely powerful sales letter and provide “addictive” videos, articles and resources to your members. It’s significantly harder to get someone to subscribe to a $99 per month membership than to purchase a $99 product. Plus, if your content isn’t compelling enough, people will drop out. It happens all the time and some folks will even drop out immediately after joining.

The key for the membership site model is to provide an ongoing service or educational material to a very specific market, and to expose your membership to as many of those people as possible by partnering with others, advertising, article marketing and more.

Profit Machine #4: Local Businesses

This is a rapidly growing opportunity that nearly every internet marketer can take advantage of. Most small, local businesses do not have a website, but most are rapidly realizing that they need to have one. It adds an immense amount of professionalism to a business if they have a well-designed website, and younger generations use internet search as their first resource to find out reviews or more information about a business.

As a 23 year old living in Toronto, I can tell you that I have only tried out new restaurants if I was able to read their menu online. There is a fantastic fish and chips restaurant 5 minutes down the road that I would have never found if they did not have a website. The website wasn’t even that fancy – it was simply professional enough that it gave me confidence that it was a good business.

The potential here is HUGE. There are a nearly endless list of services you can provide to offline businesses…

* Setup their site using Wordpress, then design it using a related theme (there are a lot of great themes available for restaurants, professional firms, and much more.)

* Charge a yearly fee to host their domain and website for them

* Sell them on Search Engine Optimization services – it’s extremely easy to rank for search terms in small towns

* Charge a monthly fee to update their website for them as needed – news, updates, new products or services and more.

* Charge firms to update their website design or ways to make money directly from their website

* Charge businesses for the ability to sell products directly via their site or to accept online ordering

That’s really just the tip of the iceberg. It’s easy to sell these types of services to small businesses. Provide a guarantee and legitimate recommendations to improve their business and you’ll be able to find a lot of customers who are willing to pay for monthly services.

Wordpress is an extremely powerful tool, but you have to remember that it’s only a tool – you need to think out of the box and apply the techniques above to create a profitable website that produces residual income for months and years to come.

It’s been an insanely brutal couple of days. My team
and I ran into a wall of technical problems, and I’ve
grown at least a dozen new gray hairs (note: I’m 22)
but it’s finally ready…

John and I have just officially re-launched the Simple
Cash Blog. We want to let you know what it’s all about
by giving you a report directly from our member’s area.
This is just one simple business model that pumps out
cash for us every month. It takes us 5 hours to create.

I hope you use it:

>> http://simplecashblog.com/5kpermonth.pdf

It’s a powerful membership that reveals our extremely
simple money-making business models (we have dozens)
in the form of short reports, checklists and templates.
In other words, you can flat-out COPY our money makers.

Here’s the best part though…

If you are an active member of a Rhodes Brothers
membership, you may be eligible for several months
of complimentary access to the Simple Cash Blog.

Just send this information in to our help desk:

1.) Your name
2.) Name of the membership you’re subscribed to
3.) Your Paypal e-mail address
4.) Your Paypal transaction ID

Our help desk is located at RhodesHelpDesk.com. Just
submit your request and we’ll try to get back to you
within 24 to 48 hours with your link for complimentary
access to the Simple Cash Blog and let you know how
many months of access you will be given.

Also, don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any
questions. We’d love to help you out.

Hey guys,

I just finished this off and wanted you guys to see it first.

No one else in the world has seen this. I’ve been calling it
my little secret private label rights project. It’s a totally
free, downloadable system called the “PLR Quick Cash System.”

Inside the PLR Quick Cash System, I reveal…

* Tips for accelerating your Internet Marketing income with Private Label Rights content

* Our quick traffic system that always jumpstarts our website’s search engine rankings

…and much, much more.

Private Label Rights and Blogs have made us a LOT of
money. Let us show you how we do it.

Download the PLR Quick Cash System for free…

You want to know why an education in online marketing is so smart?
It’s because you’re not spending money. You’re investing it.

I want to make sure that this is 100% clear because so many people get
it wrong…

If I spend $100 to take my wife out to a nice dinner I will never get
that money back. Ever. It’s spent. It’s completely gone and I’ll never
get it back no matter what I do.

Now, if I spend $100 to buy 40 articles (300-350 words each) for $2.50
each, then I am making an investment. Actually, the real investment
happens when I take the next action. This is crucial.

I must use the articles. I must use them for article marketing. I must
sell the articles to other people for a premium. Maybe I act as a
middle man. Maybe I sell the articles as PLR packages. No matter. I
just need to make sure that I monetize that investment.

This is the essence of business.

But, let’s return to your education. If you use money to get smarter,
that is an investment because it’s pure leverage. You can use that
knowledge again and again to make more money. It makes you faster and
stronger. Instead of using some lame technique to drive traffic, you
use a faster and easier technique. And, you do this again and again.

The returns are huge when you invest like this.

So, if you ever have the opportunity to invest in your education at a
fair price for high value, do it and don’t look back. Using money to
fund your education is an investment that will pay you dividends for
the rest of your life.

Guest Article By Cori Padgett

Finding a ghostwriter can be tough sometimes, especially if you have never hired one before and have no idea what to look for. You’ll probably get a ton of well meaning advice on places to look, and what you should pay for one, what’s too much, what’s not enough, and the list goes on!

A lot of people when first starting to outsource work have a fear of the unknown, and it stops them from taking a leap. But outsourcing can be so critical to your success and peace of mind once your business really starts to take off. Especially if you aren’t much of a writer yourself, or simply don’t like to write, outsourcing to a ghostwriter can be a huge weight off of your shoulders.

So How To Find A Quality Ghostwriter?

When asking this question, folks may send you at first to places like GetAFreelancer.com or Guru.com where you can hire freelancers to do whatever work you are requiring. These can be great places to find services at cheap prices, and is great for finding people to help with administrative tasks. Occasionally you can find good writers there as well, I am definitely not knocking them.

However, when you are looking for a writer you should be looking for someone who has built up a good reputation, and can show you examples of top quality work. You may not always find that on a lot of the freelance sites.

The best way to find a good ghostwriter is through word of mouth or referrals. You can bet that if you find a writer through word of mouth, it is because they have proven themselves and their clients are very happy, and spreading the word.

Check out forums, and see who people may be talking about or recommending. Message boards are good too. Just ask around and see who people point you to. If your shoved in the direction of a certain writer fairly regularly, it’s probably a good bet they are well qualified to write for you.

Found A Potential Ghostwriter – Now What?

So you have found a possible writer, and aren’t sure where to go next. The first thing you will want to do is contact them, obviously. Request a quote based on the project you are looking to have written. Also request samples from them. A good writer will always have samples of past work they can provide to you as proof of their quality.

However, be careful, some writers are unscrupulous and will send you bogus work as their samples, and then when actually asked to write your stuff, it comes back as crap! The best way to avoid this is to not only ask for samples already written, but also ask them to write a short sample article on the topic of your choice. Unless they are already an extremely well known writer whose work speaks for itself, they shouldn’t have a problem doing this for you.

Also check out their website. If they are serious about their work, then they will have a website up regarding their services. Check out the site, see if it has samples available, if it looks professional, and if they have a photo available introducing themselves.

If you decide you like this ghostwriter, and their style meshes well with what you are trying to accomplish, you will then want to draw up a simple ghostwriters agreement with them, just so you both have a record of the terms of agreement. That’s simply good business, so don’t be worried about asking them to do so. If they are unwilling find another writer!

How Much Is Too Much?

Once you have found your writer, and requested their quote, how much is too much? That can only be determined by you. Some folks will say that only expensive writers are quality writers, and all the cheap ones write in broken English. Others take the opposing stance and won’t pay for a writer that charges more than 6 bucks an article.

It all depends on you and what you are comfortable with. In my experience, expensive doesn’t always mean better, but neither do want to shell out money for a cheap writer who doesn’t deliver. Sometimes, when paying a higher price you may be paying not only for quality writing, but also for excellent customer service and timely work. Yes it’s nice to be able to cut costs and save some money, but hiring your ghostwriter may not be the ideal place to cut corners.

Consider the fact that perception plays a huge role in how people judge you or your product. It only makes sense to invest in a quality ghostwriter that is going to represent you or your product in the absolute best light possible.

To Recap…

Do your due diligence. Ask around, get referrals, find a writer with a great reputation. Request samples and quotes, as well as a ghost writer agreement. Don’t mistake expensive for better, but don’t think cheap is always going to cut it! And finally, go with your gut. If you don’t feel comfortable handing that person your money to complete a job for you, then don’t. Keep looking until you find a ghostwriter that is the perfect fit for YOU.

If you liked this article, and are still struggling to find a quality ghostwriter you can trust, feel free to drop by www.writesyntax.com from Cori and request a quote.