I would like to do both, a combination of PPC and Affiliate marketing how do I get my hands into both? Thank you for the google adsense can you help me with affiliate marketing.
The world’s quickest fortunes are achieved almost entirely by joint ventures and are responsible for trillions of dollars just in the United States A joint venture is a partnership that equally benefits two or more parties who share their resources or expertise. Joint ventures can be long-term, such as promoting a product or companion products together, or they can be short-term, such as trading products and services.
For example, I have new software for text to speech but no customers. You have a headset manufacturing company with a customer base. We then agree that you will promote my software with every headset you ship. This promotion can be by shipping a trial version of it, endorsements or any other way to refer customers to it. I can then agree to promote your headsets or possibly agree to monetary compensation.What are some of the other benefits of a joint venture?
A joint venture can offer introduction to new geographical markets and new distribution outlets.
An extreme and exceptional example of this is a little company called Microsoft. The head of this small company had some software called MS-DOS and no customers. He reached a deal with a company called IBM who made computers and was already a known and respected company in the computer industry. They also had a large number of customers. The deal was for every computer sold, it would have MS-DOS already installed with the agreement that this little company called Microsoft would give lifetime upgrades for its software. Well, the rest is history and it made the head of that small time company a billionaire by the time he was 31 years old.
Another benefit would be the mutual use of experts in other areas of expertise and or technology. By using the above example for this point, the computer company has a great writer and the software company’s programmers are not good at explaining how this software works or what it can do. The computer company’s writer can then be used for a tutorial on how to use the software along with the tutorial on how to operate the computer. This then will make using the computer and software much easier for the customer. This promotes brand loyalty for both the software company and the computer company.
Marketing expenses are shared. You now have more exposure but your marketing budget is the same as before. You are getting twice as much for the same cost.
You can now offer your customers new products or services and also increase your credibility by being partnered with an already reputable and branded company.You gain from learning other valuable skills and knowledge.
The ability to find and target new markets is simplified. These are just a few of the benefits, the list is endless. As you think about doing a joint venture you will come across many more and some may be unique to your business.
So just how do you go about setting up a joint venture? It would be possible to go through trade magazines, yellow pages or web site search for businesses that are in your targeted market. Research these businesses and then contact them with a proposal.
We suggest you first find out who has the necessary reputation and the credibility needed in your target market. This can very well be contacts that you already have. This is a faster way to start because someone you know and have a relationship with would be easier to speak with about a joint venture.There are some other excellent places to find a willing joint venture partner.
Seminars or Workshops
People who are serious about expanding and growing their business will spend money to get information from this type of activity.Business suppliers or other business contacts
If a mutual friend who is respected by both parties makes the introduction, part of the process is done. It is almost like an endorsement from a third party. It can go along way to building trust with your potential partner.Join online discussion groups and forums
This approach has a double benefit. It will not only expose you to experts in your target market, but you have a chance to evaluate them to decide if there is someone you want to be associated with. It also will give you an idea of what the market’s general opinion is of the potential partner’s credibility and reputation.
You may also want to join a membership association. These associations will normally provide a member list that would give you the contact information, web site, if any, and also the business name. It may even send out regular newsletters or host monthly events that could lead to some meetings face to face with potential partners.What are some incentives you can use to promote a joint venture?
If you have an e-book, offer a chapter for free and ask for a free chapter for his or her e-book. You then advertise his or her free chapter and he or she does the same for you. This type of proposal would also work with membership sites. Offer a free seven-day trial. Advertise other membership sites that will give a free trial and have them advertise your free trial.
Contests are another good incentive. Ask an e-zine publisher to advertise for you and in return you will furnish a prize for a contest that he or she can hold. If the contest is really good, ask for a prominent place on their web site. You could also do a contest swap. You would advertise his or her contest and he or she would advertise yours. The prizes do not need to be expensive but they do need to be practical. By practical, we mean something that would be beneficial to use.
Write an article related to your product or service and offer this for free to website owners and e-zine publishers in exchange for free advertising. If using this form of incentive, write a unique article for each website or e-zine publisher. Another article idea is to swap articles. You use their articles and they use yours.
Thank you ads, swapping business cards electronically, offering a discount to your partner’s customers are all other incentives that you can explore.
Ultimately, the sky is the limit with the benefits of a joint venture, your growth will be much faster and profits will be higher. The object is to find a reputable partner who has the same vision for his or her business as you do. Not only make it worthwhile for him or her to join you, but make the time and effort advantageous for yourself.
The globalization of e-commerce has generated new web related technology that can be used to promote anything on the Internet. The recent introduction of blogs, pod casts, and RSS provides every Internet marketer an added and indispensable tool he can put to good use to his business advantage.
Today, anyone who has access to the Internet can publish his/her own blog on any topic. This capability provides the blog publisher a free tool to create practically an unlimited number of blog sites focused and targeted to a specific product or niche, which contain information their target market is searching for.
Marketing specialists know the intrinsic value of any related information you can provide to prospective clients and target market about your products and the advantages; advance and related information is considered an essential pre-selling tool, it can positively swing the decision of a potential customer to purchase what it is that you are offering. This marketing technique is very similar to food and beverage companies supermarket taste tests of new products and automotive companies test drives of newly released car models.
Utilizing the many blog capabilities and functions to your advantage is just one reason for you to seriously consider publishing your own product or service related blog. In addition, blogs give you the ability to syndicate your content and/or information through another Internet-related technology called Real Simple Syndication (RSS).
What types of web content can you syndicate? They can be articles, product reviews, e-Books, Mini Courses, Tutorials, MP3 Files and streaming video more popularly known as pod casts. The advancement of technology is so great that there are new cellular phone providers that offer these services on their networks.
Imagine if you publish a system of related affiliate blogs. In addition, since blogs normally come with RSS Feed technology, visitors to your blogs and who subscribe to your RSS Feeds will instantly receive your new post whether it is an article, MP3 file or video.
People who subscribe to your RSS Feed are interested and if they see something that benefits them, then there is a higher probability that they will buy your product or service on offer.
One of the best advantages of a blog is that they are search engine friendly. Every time you post new content to your blog, it pings search engines and other RSS Directories you have submitted to inform them that there is fresh content for them to index.
The more content you post, the more content there is for the search engines to index, which in turn means more traffic to your blog and your website.
You can even modify your blog template by adding Google Adsense and your affiliate programs marketing materials to it. By doing this, every time you post new content, your marketing message will always be there and Google Adsense will display targeted ads related to your content.
Having your own product related blog as an integral part of your affiliate marketing strategy helps you market your affiliate programs towards your target audience more effectively and cheaply.
Keyword:
Making Money Online: Untold secrets
I still remember it vividly. It was way back in 1996 that I was introduced to the internet and I was hooked immediately. Here was a completely different world where the opportunities were endless. Almost instantly, I got a gut feeling that hidden in this virtual world were several ways to make money. And I started the quest. However, it was a long time before I actually started to make money online. Blame it on circumstances or bad judgement but I was only able to generate substantial income after 7 years of scourging the internet. I have tired it all from PPC advertising to the more recent google adsense. The result is hardcore on job experience that cannot be matched by any number of tips or techniques. Yes, I can say confidently that of all the popular money making methods online, only a few really work. You might just be surprised at some of the names and methods that are disclosed in this article. I have heard these reactions a hundred times, ‘Oh…does this really work?’ So here is the cream of the lot, the best of the best of the best money making methods online.
Blogging and Ad sense
Both of these are reasonably new methods and boy, haven’t they come to the fore with a bang! The best part about blogs is that there is no tried and tested formula for success. As long as you are creative and have the right content, your blog will attract visitors and once you have traffic to your blog, there is nothing as good as adsense to get you some money. The combination is pure dynamite. Put in the right content, stay updated frequently and stick to your style. For example, while you might be a good writer about entertainment, sports might not be an area of expertise for you. Do not attempt to foray into something that you are not sure of. Stick to the basics and you will make money.
Affiliate marketing
If you thought that you needed to own your own business to sell it online, then you are wrong. There are hundreds of people who can use your website to sell their stuff and this is what affiliate marketing is all about. Once again, there are hundreds of opportunities and affiliate networks out there that pay you in several ways. Cost per Click and Cost per Impression are some of the methods that have diminished over time. The more popular ones are Cost per Sale and Cost per Mille. Believe me, with the right amount of planning this is a business that can grow at breakneck speed. And the best part is that you can work from home. You are your own boss, no time constraints, irregular work hours etc.
E-Bay
If there is something that has revolutionized the way you make money online, then it is eBay. Believe me; you can sell anything under the sun on eBay. From your old sneakers to your latest cell phone, everything can fetch a good price. There is a diamond necklace sold every 4 minutes over here. A motorcycle is sold every 9 minutes. What are you waiting for? If you still haven’t tapped into this virtual goldmine, then it still isn’t late. The guides and tutorials on eBay are self explanatory and give you good information about how to get started as a seller.
Freelancing
As I said before, it doesn’t really take all the skills in the world to make money. All that it takes is some smart thinking and the ability to manage the business. There are several websites where you can bid for work like web designing, programming, article writing, blogging and much more. Once you get the project you can outsource it to other freelancers for a much lesser price of course. The difference is the money that you make by just outsourcing the work and acting as a middle person. In the process, you will learn a lot of new skills like negotiation, employee management and will have a team of freelance professionals under your belt.
What Is RSS?
How does RSS syndication work? Say you publish a new web page about a particular topic. You want others interested in that topic to know about it. By listing the page as an “item” in your RSS file, you can have the page appear in front of those who read information using RSS readers or “news aggregators” (explained more in my sidebar article, RSS: Your Gateway To News & Blog Content). RSS also allows people to easily add links to your content within their own web pages. Bloggers are a huge core audience that especially does this.
What does RSS stand for? There’s a can of worms. RSS as introduced by Netscape in 1999 then later abandoned in 2001 stood for “Rich Site Summary.” Another version of RSS pioneered by UserLand Software stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” In yet another version, RSS stands for “RDF Site Summary.”
History buffs might be interested that there’s been some rivalry over who invented RSS. This is why we have both different names and indeed different “flavors” or versions of RSS. Mark Pilgrim’s written an excellent article, What Is RSS, that charts the different versions with recommendations on which to use. I’ll also revisit the version choice you’ll need to make. But first, let’s look more closely at some basics of what goes into any RSS file.
How Easy Is RSS?
I’ve been exploring RSS because it was time that Search Engine Watch offered its own stories in this manner. I’ve read several tutorials about making a feed, and they generally suggest that it is easy. They often offer code that you can “cut-and-paste” and link over to specifications that I actually don’t find that clear.
For example, the RSS 2.0 specification has an “cloud” element that’s optional but which a lay person might still wonder if they should use it. Meanwhile, heaven help the person who stumbles into the RSS 1.0 specification and its complicated RDF syntax.
Sure, making an RSS file IS easy for many. If you understand HTML, you’ll probably understand enough to do a cut-and-paste from someone else’s RSS file to make your own file. Don’t know HTML? Start a blog, because several blogging tools automatically generates RSS files.
As for those non-technical people using WYSIWYG page building tools or personal home page building systems, have faith. Even you can build an RSS file from scratch, as long as you dispense with some of the extra features you probably don’t need. We’ll go through how to do this below. Later, I’ll also mention some tools that will even do some or all of the work for you.
The RSS File
At the heart of an RSS file are “items.” No matter what version of RSS you settle on, your file will have to include at least one item. Items are generally web pages that you’d like others to link to. For example, let’s say you just created a web page reviewing a new cell phone that’s being released. Information about that page would form an item.
To enter your item into the RSS file, you’ll need three bits of information:
* Title
* Description
* Link
The title and description of your item need not match exactly the HTML title tag of the web page that the item refers to, nor the meta description tag, assuming you use these (don’t know what they are? See my How To Use HTML Tags article). You can write any title and description that you think will describe the page. However, using your page’s title and meta description tag certainly makes it easy to copy and paste to build your RSS feed.
In the case of our example page, let’s say this is the information we settle on to define it as an item:
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
I’ve been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html
Now we have to surround that information with XML tags. These are similar to HTML tags, with the exception that unlike with HTML, there’s no set definition of XML tags. Anyone can make up a particular XML tag. Whether it is useful depends on the program that reads the resulting XML file. In the case of RSS feeds, they have their own unique set of XML tags that are defined. Use these correctly, and then anything that reads RSS will understand your information.
Did that make your head spin? If so, don’t reread — just carry on to see how simple it is. First, open a text editor like Notepad. We’re going to build our RSS file using it.
For your title, you need to start it with the tag, then follow this with the text of the title, then end with the tag. It looks like this:
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
For your description, you do the same, starting out with the opening tag, then following with the actual description, then “closing” with the tag. Now you have this:
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
I’ve been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!
Next, we add the link information, beginning with , following with the actual hyperlink, then closing with . That gives us this:
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
I’ve been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html
Now there’s one more thing we need to do. We actually have to define all this information as forming a particular “item,” which we do using a special item tag.
You place the opening item tag, at the top or start of all the information we’ve listed. You then place the closing item tag, , at the bottom or “end” of the item information. The finished product looks like this:
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
I’ve been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html
Congratulations! You’ve now made your first item. There’s a bit more to do to finish our RSS file. First, what if we have other items we want to syndicate? Then we simply add more item elements, just as we did above. You can have up to 15 items. New items tend to be inserted at the top, with old items removed from the bottom, to make room for new stuff.
With our example, let’s see how things look if we add two more items:
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
I’ve been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html
Sanyo Tablet PC Amazes!
I was dubious about the new Tablet PCs, but then I saw the latest from Sanyo. Wow, cool looks and it works!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/sanyotablet.html
Canon MegaTiny Digital Camera Too Small
OK, there is a limit to just how small is too small. Canon’s MetaTiny, no larger than a quarter, simply is too little to use properly
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/metatiny.html
Having defined items we want to distribute, we now have to define our site as a “channel.” You’ll use the same tags as with the items: title, description and link. However, this time the information will be about your entire site, rather than a particular page. That means our channel information would look like this:
All Gadgets Reviewed
If it’s a gadget, we review it. Learn what gadgets are hot and what’s not!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com
Now, how does something reading our RSS file know that the information above is for our “channel” when it looks just like item information? Simple. As long as we don’t surround this information with an opening and closing tags, it won’t be seen as item information but rather as channel information. That gives us this:
All Gadgets Reviewed
If it’s a gadget, we review it. Learn what gadgets are hot and what’s not!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
I’ve been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html
Sanyo Tablet PC Amazes!
I was dubious about the new Tablet PCs, but then I saw the latest from Sanyo. Wow, cool looks and it works!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/sanyotablet.html
Canon MegaTiny Digital Camera Too Small
OK, there is a limit to just how small is too small. Canon’s MetaTiny, no larger than a quarter, simply is too little to use properly
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/metatiny.html
There are a few last things we need to do. First, we need to add a tag at the very top of the file saying that this is written according to the XML 1.0 specifications. Right under this, we also have to say what RSS version we are using.
So far, everything we’ve done is compatible with UserLand’s popular RSS 0.91 version. However, it also matches UserLand’s latest RSS 2.0 version, as well, so we’ll define the file as meeting that specification. This will allow us to add other neat features in the future, if we want.
Finally, after the RSS tag, we need to add an opening “channel” tag. That gives us this at the top of the file:
At the bottom of the file, after all the items we want to syndicate, we have to insert a closing channel and RSS tag, in that order. Those look like this:
This means our complete file looks like this:
All Gadgets Reviewed
If it’s a gadget, we review it. Learn what gadgets are hot and what’s not!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
I’ve been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html
Sanyo Tablet PC Amazes!
I was dubious about the new Tablet PCs, but then I saw the latest from Sanyo. Wow, cool looks and it works!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/sanyotablet.html
Canon MegaTiny Digital Camera Too Small
OK, there is a limit to just how small is too small. Canon’s MetaTiny, no larger than a quarter, simply is too little to use properly
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/metatiny.html
Mind Blowing Options
Everything shown above is the bare basics you need to create a file and start syndicating content from your web site. However, there are additional things you could do.
For example, rather than your entire web site being a “channel,” you could actually have different content from within the web site be defined into separate channels. That’s something I’m not going to explore in this article, but some of the resources below will guide you through this, when you feel more comfortable.
As hinted at, RSS 2.0 allows you to insert all types of additional information into your feed. It can make your head spin to look at these and decide what to use. The easy answer is, don’t bother with anything you don’t know. Not every aggregator supports all the options offered. As long as you provide the minimum information suggested above, you should be fine.
Did I Choose The Right RSS Version?
Earlier, I’d mentioned there are different versions of RSS. Even though we entered the bare minimum of information, it turned out that we were able to have a file that was easily considered to be RSS 2.0, the latest version promoted by UserLand and which is widely used.
Indeed, the Syndic8 site reports that the most popular format of RSS by far is RSS 0.91 — and though we’ve used RSS 2.0, our file as shown is entirely compatible with RSS 0.91. In short, we’re in safe company.
What about that RSS 1.0 version that I said was complicated. Well, it is complicated. However, some people might want to make use of some of the special capabilities that it offers. If you are interested in it, then check out the official specification.
Saving The File
Now that we’re done adding to the file, we need to save it. But what name shall we give it? I’ve looked and not seen any guidance on this. I imagine that’s because as long as the file is valid (more below), it probably doesn’t matter what it’s called.
To make my own decision for Search Engine Watch, I decided to imitate what I saw out at UserLand, which promotes the RSS 2.0 standard that we used. UserLand’s example feeds all ended .xml, so let’s do the same. As for the first part, that really can be whatever you like. For our example, let’s say we just call it feed.xml.
Now that our file is saved, we can place it anywhere we want on our web server. Let’s say we put it in the root or home directory. Then the address to our RSS file would be:
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/feed.xml
Validating The File
Now our RSS file is done, but did we do it right? To find out, we need to validate it. Use the aptly named Feed Validator service. Simply enter the address to your RSS file, and you’ll be told if everything is OK — or if there’s something wrong you need to fix.
How about a quick preview of how your new feed actually looks? Then pay a visit to Wytheville Community College News Center. Again, enter your feed URL, and you’ll see the clickable headlines and story descriptions nicely assembled inside a box.
The service will also generate a JavaScript code that you can post on your site. Anyone copying the JavaScript can automatically have your feed syndicated into their pages — pretty neat!
Get Syndicated!
Now that your file is validated, you want the world to know about it! To make this happen, visit the RSS directories and search engines listed in the RSS: Your Gateway To News & Blog Content article. They generally offer submission pages, where you can inform them of your feed.
You also want to make sure people who come to your web site see that you provide a feed. It’s very common to post a link to the feed somewhere on the home page of a web site. If you have a dedicated news page, you may want to put it there, as well.
You can link to your feed with an ordinary HTML link. However, many sites use a small orange XML icon to link to the feed. I’ve also seen some sites use blue RSS icon. I could find no standard about using these. So, to be safe, I did all three with Search Engine Watch. Look on the home page, and you’ll see how it’s done (and help yourself to the icons, if you need them).
Finally, it’s good to “ping” one of the major services that track when web logs and RSS content changes. By doing this, you ensure that other sites that monitor these know to check back at your site for more content.
Weblogs.com is one of these major sites. Enter your site’s name and the URL of your feed into the manual Ping-Site Form, and it will know you’ve updated your feed. The Specs page explains how to set up automatic notification.
blo.gs is another major change monitoring site. It is supposed to receive any changes that come from Weblogs.com, so you shouldn’t need to notify it separately. However, if you want to be on the safe side, it’s easily done. Use the ping form, which also explains how to set up automatic pinging, as well.
Tutorials & Resources
RSS Headline Creator allows you to skip coding and manually choose the number of headlines you’d like to include in your file, up to the 15 maximum allowed. Then a form with boxes that you fill out will be made. Enter the right information, then push the “Make The Code” button. Your RSS file’s code will be generated, for you to copy and paste into a text editor and save.
How To Get Your Web Site Content Syndicated is a Dec. 2002 tutorial by Kalena Jordan and Dan Thies from which I drew inspiration to get my own feed going.
Syndic8’s How To Section lists a variety of tutorials that discuss how to build RSS files.
Content Syndication with RSS is a book by Ben Hammersley that was just released in March 2003. I haven’t read it, but everything I’ve heard is that it should be excellent.
RSS Resources Directory from UserLand categorizes helpful information related to RSS, in different categories.
Postscript: Search Types: Blogs & Feeds and SEO: Feeds are sections of the Search Topics area available to Search Engine Watch members with lots of information on the topic of feeds since this article was originally written.
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