How To Create Multiple Streams Of Income With Cash-Gobbling Blogs!

It's hard to escape the hype surrounding blogs these days. Blogs are often used as diaries where people write about their daily happenings, or comment about popular news in the world. There are also niche blogs which provide information targeted to a sub-niche. However, blogs can also be used as a tool for multiple sources of income. This article will discuss the ways to create income from blogs and how to maximize it.

The first thing you need to do before setting up a blog is to find a niche. This can be a broad topic like golf or gardening, or it can be a sub-niche like golf swing tips or gardening techniques. Usually it's best to target a sub-niche where you can more easily dominate the market and create a loyal readership.

Next, you need to decide on what income streams you want to implement on your blog. These income streams include Amazon, Clickbank, Adsense and a mailing list. You should implement 2-3 of those income strategies on your blog to maximize your earnings. Any more than that and you may confuse your visitor.

Amazon and Clickbank affliate links are something you definitely want to use in your blog. Affiliate links are simply links which you refer to a visitor, and if they buy a product from your link, you will be paid a commission.

Adsense, the Google advertising program, is a way of displaying relevant ads to your visitors. You will get paid for every click-through you receive from your visitors. These can range from a few cents to even a few dollars.

Lastly, you'd want to build a mailing list. You can then follow-up with your list with relevant affiliate product offers and information about the topic. This allows you to build a relationship with your readers and increase your profits. The way this is done is by using an autoresponder like Aweber or Get Response.

You see, a blog can be as profitable as you want it to be. Treat it as a business, and your readers will take you seriously..

Internet Directories

A directory is a large database or catalog of various information regarding different issues and topics. When one thinks of a directory, what automatically comes to mind is a telephone directory in which it contains a list of telephone numbers arranged alphabetically. But when it comes to the Internet, there are also directories that contain not lists of telephone numbers but a list of different topics sorted out according to the categories and subcategories. Listing topics as such helps Internet users make use of the directory in a fast and organized manner.

Benefits of Directories

Directories offer a lot of benefits not only to the Internet users but to those people who own websites and do business over the Internet. For businessmen, when listed with a good directory, they find increased traffic, thus, increased business potentials. For Internet users, as stated above, directories are a great help for them in searching for the topic that they need. They do not have to look for it randomly as they are listed in categories and subcategories, thus, making the search much easier.

When listed with a good directory, it can increase your ranking in search engines. It also gives you the benefit of linking with other prominent websites, provided that your web content is similar to theirs.

Kinds of Directories

There are mainly two kinds of directories: the paid and the free directory.

As the name implies, paid directories require people who want to have their websites listed in the directory to pay a fee. But before the website is listed, it has to go through its editors where the editors check for website content and relevance. Once the website content passed, it is then listed in its appropriate category or subcategory. Websites that are listed in the paid directories often gets more relevant and better traffic. Also, with paid directories, your website gets linked to other prominent websites that are of similar topic to yours. This, in turn, can increase your Page Rank or ranking in search engines.

Free directories, on the other hand, are obviously free. Website owners need not pay for their sites to be listed in the directory, but like paid directories, it also has to go through the editors of the directory before it gets listed. The directory of this kind also tends to get much more traffic than does the paid directory. One disadvantage though with free directories is that you also get more spam.

How to Structure Your Email Campaign to Maximum Effect Part I

An email campaign one of the most effective ways of reaching potential customers, and if you know how to structure your email campaign properly to maximum effect it can be one of the best types of online marketing for your business.

Many businesses never embark on email campaigns because they feel that marketing emails might be considered as a form of spam. However, those for whom an email campaign is an essential part of marketing, have a definite advantage of the former group, and will gain a greater market share for their product.

Before you can even start you must decide on who you are going to send your emails to. Do you have a number of lists? If so, the same email might not be relevant to every list, and you have to decide which of them to target with your current campaign. If you have no list, then it is going to be difficult for your campaign to be effective. You can purchase lists, but many addresses on such lists are old, and in any case are unlikely to be motivated to purchasing your product, irrespective of the fact that your purchased list is purported to consist of people targeted to your type of business.

It is better by far to build your own opt-in list, and if you do not yet have one that should be your first step. It will take time, but is necessary for your success, so put your email campaign on the back burner for now and get that list started.

How to Benefit from Email Marketing

You have tried buying phone lists, ads in the yellow pages, seeming all your marketing options have been exhausted, but if you have not yet used email marketing, you may have missed out on one of the most cost effective marketing solutions. Researchers have made the estimate that in 2006 alone, US companies spent more than $400 million on email marketing. Obviously, there is something to this method.

One of the advantages of email marketing is its relative inexpensiveness when compared with direct mail or printed newsletters. Also, it has proven to provide a high return on investment when done correctly. It is easy to track, and allows active and aggressive marketing, instead of similar internet marketing that forces the user to sit and wait while people click through. It is also instantaneous, as opposed to its predecessor, direct mail, which can take days or weeks to arrive.

All these benefits can make lucrative email marketing a smart choice, and in order to take advantage of it, there are many services that you can hire to help you market your company via email. However, because "junk" email has become so prevalent, a 2003 act of congress called the CAN-SPAM Act authorized $11,000 US for every violation of spamming, or repeated, unsolicited advertising, to each person. This means that you should make sure whichever email marketing service you hire complies with this act.

Lucrative email marketing can be a beneficial step toward increasing your internet presence and making more money. To take advantage of this, the internet is a good resource for investigating email marketing and companies that provide such services.

Step-by-Step Guide To Write A Text Email Quickly

Writing emails to your clients and prospects is imperative in today's business scenario. Fancy HTML emails don't always create a good impression about your company and many times they get blocked by spam filters, therefore the need for powerful text email is even more.

Text emails are generally used to give an introduction about your product or service to the people who do not know about it in a subdued, business-like manner. Nevertheless, they have to be effective enough to make people take the right action. Here are six simple steps to achieve that goal:

1. Use the old trick - start with a question

Find out the major problem your prospect might be facing and start with a statement that asks the reader if he faces the same problem. For instance - "Is lack of efficient IT infrastructure management escalating your downtime and decreasing your employees' productivity?" You will be able to grab attention right at the beginning if this question hits the paining nerve.

2. Tell them they are not alone

Next, talk about a fact and inform them that they are not the only one challenged by this situation. Give reliable sources and studies that prove this problem is faced by many people in different forms. Example: "An email marketing study conducted by DMA in Q4 2006 states that the deliverability of B2B emails has gone down by 12% and 63% of the marketers in North America want to solve this problem at the earliest."

3. Talk about the potential harm

Paint a picture of the problem and what could be the outcome of that. If they have not thought about the problem till then, your mail will make them do it. You may write, "If left unmanaged, your simple pest problem might slowly eat away your house's foundations and bring it down."

4. This is where you come in

Give a short description about your solutions and how it can make it all better for your reader. List down a few important benefits and also mention why you are better than your competitors. Make sure you do not write too much about yourself; two-three lines should suffice. And, avoid being a narcissist.

5. Don't forget the call-to-action

To end, inform them what they can achieve by contacting you immediately. It could be a free of charge consultation, a free survey, or a discount coupon. There should be a reason why they should contact you at the earliest. Sign off with your name, phone number, link to your website, and email ID.

6. Format it right

Paste the entire email in notepad and do the formatting manually. Press a hard-enter wherever you need a line break. Make each bullet point using (-) or (*) and give appropriate spacing. This is essential part and should not be missed, lest your mail might look odd in some email clients.

Voila your plain text email is ready!

Create And Send HTML Email Newsletters

An Introduction To Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are being recognized as a great way to enhance sales. Just what are newsletters? They are regular snippets of information that are delivered to you via email. These snippets of information can be on any topic on the planet. As long as someone wants the information, there is potential for an Email newsletter.

Newsletter data has revealed many positive aspects of email newsletters. If you want to create and send an HTML email newsletter, you should know of this information. Research shows that if you use newsletters properly, 10% of subscribers can be turned into customers. Now that is information that I would gladly digest.

HTML Email Newsletters

There are two types of email newsletters. One type is based on text and the other type on HTML (Hyper text markup language). Both these types of newsletters have their own positives and negatives. Ultimately which newsletter you decide to create depends on the ultimate product and the prospects for that product. Remember one thing however, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

The graphic possibilities of HTML lend it to suit prospects that are visually attracted. Some products just cannot be promoted through text. They require the power of HTML to bring out their good features. This is the reason for the recent popularity of HTML email newsletters. Face it you can't advertise aesthetically appealing products through text newsletters.

How To Create And Send That Killer HTML Newsletter

If you want to register new subscribers, make it easy for them to opt into your HTML newsletter. Remove the informational hurdles. Ask for as little information as is necessary for subscribing prospects to your newsletter. In most cases, all you need is the email address. That, along with the assurance of complete security and non-sharing of email addresses ought to get you subscribers.

Make it easy for subscribers to share your email newsletter with friends and associates. You can do this by simply adding a send-to-a-friend link in your newsletter.

Check out your competition. Sign into the competition's newsletter. Find the gaps in their product and/or newsletter and fill those gaps. What better way to get that leap ahead.

Content Is King

Content is king. This is true of HTML email newsletters as anywhere else. When you create and send that HTML email newsletter, remember to fill it with good content. Keep it short and simple. Provide useful content. If there is too much content for one newsletter break it up into more than one.

Good Subject Lines

Good subject lines are sometimes the difference between spam and good reading. Write a subject line that encourages your reader to read the newsletter. Think of all the items in your email's trash can that have a bad subject line.

Opt-In And Opt-Out

Never send newsletters to those who have not asked for them. Include an opt-out link with every email.

When you create and send HTML email newsletters, keep in mind that subscribers want useful information in an easy to read format. HTML email newsletters that allow you to monitor click through and therefore effectiveness are a boon to small businesses everywhere. With a little effort, this medium delivers you the benefits that a much more expensive campaign would normally. Create and send HTML email newsletters to hear the cash registers jingling all the way to the bank.

Promoting Your Exhibition or Exhibit by Using email Marketing

Email marketing can be a very effective tool for promoting your exhibition or event. The problem these days though is that the benefits of e-marketing are being reduced due to more and more spam. Of thirty billion emails thought to have been sent last year, some statistics suggest that 60% of those emails were spam. The spam situation is so bad now that marketers, who have a genuine message to send out, are finding it harder and harder to get their information across to recipients about upcoming events and exhibitions. So what can we do to try and improve results? Some ideas are detailed below.

Subject Line:

One of the biggest mistakes when marketers send out their information regarding events and exhibitions, is that they include spam like words in the subject line. There are certain words which, if included, will almost definitely result in your email being automatically classified as spam. Words involving education should always be avoided as should words such as 'free'. Also ensure you differentiate your email subject line from the standard messages you receive. Including your company name at or near to the start of the subject line is thought to be very effective because it ensures that the recipient (having signed up to your database) will recognise the sender and be much more likely to open it.

Choose time of day and day of week:

You might be anxious to get news out about your next exhibition or event, but be patient. Plan your emails in advance and you will then have the time to choose the best send time.

From my own experience, try and send the emails in the mornings or lunchtime and avoid times late in the day. Try also to avoid sending just before the weekends because recipients may then end up checking the emails on Monday morning, a time when many weekend spam emails have built up in their email box.

Ensure you track the results using a web stats package:

To really have the best idea of the best time to send and to gather other useful statistics, put some tracking code into the emails and use software to track 1) opens and 2) click throughs. If you are not using your own mailing list then this tracking will be of particular use because it will give you a clear idea of which list broker or publication lists are the most effective. Some list brokers do block the racking but you can certainly ask them to provide statistics.

Provide a html and non html version or the email send:

You may miss potential visitors to your exhibition or event if you do not send a text version of the email. To ensure you capture as many people as possible, provide a text and html version when you send the emails.

Money Out of E-mail Marketing

So how can e-mail marketing generate income to an individual?

Penetrating e-mail marketing requires not much from you. It actually entails very simple things: have patience, motivate yourself to work to the fullest and a few simple tips to bring onto your pocket and voila! You are all set!

To ensure that you get what you want you have to have a powerful material to equate your goal. Since the e-mail marketing requires that one should develop an e-mail to be sent out to potentially large market, then it is a must that the e-mail material is written at its best. Remember that your objective is to attract prospective consumers and catch their attention to at least consider buying or patronizing your product. Apparently, the medium that you have handicaps you from verbally catching the consumer, then it is just but right to put out the best e-mail material campaign. The e-mail leaves all the impression without you knowing it. Only when you are able to capture that market can you say that you have been successful in marketing the product. So, the rule is, give the best content you can think of in the e-mail!

Now, you have completed your campaign material. The next question is: Do I have a database of potential market?

The Internet in itself is the primary source of this. But maximizing it is another question. Of course, you can always refer to having someone else's address book, as a source of your database, but you can never have the address book of other potentially opened-up for you. Also, not discounting the fact that with this method, the probability of getting undeliverable or mailer-daemon message return is at a high percentage.

If you want to maximize your capacity, you can indulge into purchasing some programs from the net where it can give you the number of databases that you want -- even more, you can have millions of address lists in just a snap. With millions of address lists, are you not ensured of an income even when just a portion of this returns back to your advertisement?

Develop Your eMail Business With Viral Marketing

A self promoting ability or 'viral' selling point is something a site or digital product must hold to achieve success in the hard-nosed competition in the current Internet based business area. In the present high level of competition and challenge from other businesses being commonly experienced by all marketers, every trick of marketing must be devised and brought into play.

It doesn't matter if you have a killer product or a fantastically designed website, if people don't know that you are there, they certainly aren't going to grow your business, and without an extra ingredient you will never find the success you seek.

The worst thing is, your business may just not survive, as there are so many publicity gaining ideas brought into play by so many online business sites in the present web scene. However, there are still some techniques that can assist you with an extra boost in the popularity ratings.

This is the thing many dream of called Viral Marketing. While the term viral usually brings to mind thoughts of a computer virus; a concept very much dreaded by all owners and users of computers, it is not a virus in this sense at all. So don't worry that you will need to use a computer virus to spread your business! No business person with any sense would do that.

In addition, all computer users have seen far too many of those intrusive pop ups and adware and spyware, so nothing viral would ever use these.

Viral Marketing, also known by many as Viral Advertising, is a marketing method used to build the public awareness of one's product or company.

The technique of Viral Advertising when done well uses many categories of media to innovative in a way that gets a significant proportion of the people participating amused enough to actually pass the material on. The clever bit is that the product or company advertisement moves along with it.

To say this in another way, companies use the idea that if people like the content of a media they will pass it on to their friends and acquaintances. Businesses sponsor various media, such as a cool flash game, short video for You Tube, email story with a weird twist, and such, which one may pass on to another with the promoter's brand or logo.

Viral marketing has become such a frequently seen method of raising the brand by publicity and marketing due to the fact that it can most often be achieved at relatively low cost.

Email is cheap and is commonly used for Viral Marketing, but a tricky problem for marketers for email is to avoid their message being stopped by email filters.

A hot viral promotion concept that is at the moment demonstrating surprisingly rapid success
is to offer a replacement for email among a group of marketers, as a small software download permanently active on their PCs. Both upline and downline participants can then be certain that their communications will be received, and the concept is very popular for both new and time served marketers.

Joining this developing method of viral marketing can easily propel inexperienced marketers ahead in list building, and generate high profits.

Two systems currently thriving for their members are Desk Top Lightning (since Autumn 2006), and Viral Shock.com. Both are the sort of things you would want to pass on to your friends. DeskTopLightning has a large user membership now. ViralShock.com from Justin Blake, has just launched (April 2007). Justin's is likely to be a particularly good choice right now, as its growth is most probably at its fastest for affiliate sales.

All it takes is a great idea, and those that are joining now are reaping the benefits of Viral Marketing.

How To Get Traffic And Build An Opt-in List

It has been said time and time again by internet marketers everywhere, that in order to build a successful online business you need to have a responsive opt-in email list. The saying "the money is in the list" is true. With that in mind, here are a few steps that you can use to build your very own opt-in email list.

Trade Links With Other Web Sites.

It would be best if these web sites are related to the subject area of your own web site. This will make the traffic you get more targeted. It will increase your link popularity and move you up in the search engine rankings. You may not want to trade links with your direct competitors as that could have an effect on your income. Have the links you give point to your squeeze page or a page that has the ability to sign up new subscribers.

Join Forums And Chat Rooms

These forums and chat rooms should revolve around your niche subject area. You will be able to add a signature file to them. In the signature file you are allowed to point to your squeeze page or a page that has the ability to sign up new subscribers. While in the forum or chat room ask questions, post answers to other people's questions, and post appropriate information that would not be considered as spam. Spamming on any front is wrong.

Write Articles

After writing your articles, submit them to the numerous article directories and e-zines online. At the end of each of your articles include your web page address and/or squeeze page address in the resource box you are allowed.

Promote A Free Give-a-way

Freebies such as an e-books or programs are a great way to get people to join your opt-in email list. Just remember to leave a link pointing back to your squeeze page. Allow your visitors to also give the item away. By doing this you will increase exposure to your web site or squeeze page at the same time.

Offer To Exchange Ads With Other Free E-zine Publishers

Exchanging ads with other e-zine publisher who have a subscriber base similar to your own is another good way to get subscribers. You can also try purchasing ad space in large e-zines. Don't try to sell something in the ad. Offer them some valuable information or freebie to prompt them into visiting your web site and joining your list. This techniques can gain loads of new subscribers to your opt-in email list.

Set Up A Squeeze Page On A domain That Offers Free Web Space

Use this site by posting ads on all the free advertising areas on the internet including free classified ad sites, free for all links sites, and free yellow page directories. Point all these ads to the squeeze page you have created. This is a good way to use free for all web sites without hurting your own web pages search engine rankings

Create Your Own Blog

Set up a blog and add it to ping sites such as ping-o-matic. You will need to update it on a regular basis and then ping it so that it will be sent around the internet. Again, make sure you have place your squeeze page address in your blog.

Leave Comments Others Blogs

Respond to blogs that are similar in content to your web site. Say something nice about the blogs content. Leave your signature file pointing to your squeeze page and announce your free give-a-way.

Email Marketing - Email marketing for Maximum Success I

Email marketing is probably the marketing technique most fraught with danger. The rewards for success can be very high, but the penalties for failure can be very costly. To help you make sure that you are on the right side of this equation, here are some tips that might help you to improve your email campaign, and increase your chances of success.

First, any email campaign must start with a list of email addresses. Although this seems fundamental, you would be surprised at the number of people who try running an email campaign with no addresses. They try to find them on the internet, purchase them and even run bots that spam every email address they find.

The latter is illegal so I shall not dwell on them. Any decent email spam blocker should be able to deal with these. Let's instead have a look at purchasing email addresses. These are offered on many internet sites, but I would advise you to ignore them. Although most are advertised as 'targeted email addresses', in other words, addresses of people who have professed an interest that is relevant to your web site, do not take this at face value.

The advertisers might well be right, but what they don't advertise is that in most cases the addresses were bribed by free gifts and those providing them are not really very interested in what you have to offer. Most purchased lists are worth nothing, and you are likely to get zero responses from a list of five thousand addresses. Those who registered might have done so from a 'sports' web site, but have no interest in your snowboarding or lacrosse.

Free Zune Downloads – Fact or Fiction?

Free Zune downloads; it sounds great, doesn't it? Well, guess again. Sure, you can find free Zune download hub sites, but if you find a legal one that has first rate music, movies and videos, be sure you sing from the mountaintops. Why sing out? Because, you probably found the only one of its' kind that's legal. Most of those free download sites for the Zune, and the iPOD too, for that matter, are basically pirate sites. They're full of stolen or illegally copied music and video downloads.

The best thing about the Microsoft Zune is the luscious, 3" screen that's virtually dripping with vibrant color. It's a screen you can actually watch TV episodes and videos on while you're on the train into the city. Sure, there are other great features as well, such as integrated WiFi capability, so you can share files with other Zunes. The wireless networking capability makes it so easy to share that great, new track with friends. As you'd expect with a Microsoft product, the Zune has an appetite for Windows Media files, both music and video. It can use the WMA lossless format to preserve every bit (pun intended) of sound quality your tracks contain. In the event you've already got a drive full of MP-3 music, don't fret, the Zune can gobble those up as well. MP-3s can be up to 320 KB/s, while WMAs max out at 192 KB/s, unless you elect to use the lossless version. One last feature that will be useless to some, but oh, so cool to others, is the ability of the Zune to stream to and from an X-box 360. A 360 is already a media center extender, so the addition of Zune streaming capability really increases its functionality.

When downloading video files to a Zune, you'll need to convert them to decrease storage requirements. Because the LCD screen is only 3", the loss of resolution isn't noticeable. Another benefit of file conversion is that converted files require fewer CPU cycles of the Zune's processor.

Now, there actually are free downloads available for your Zune, and some of them do include content files, however most of them are applications and utilities, such as file converters. You can find some free music and video content to download. The lion's share of them are indy and underground tracks from little known bands, but not all. In any case, you can discover some really great music from these artists.

What you can find, in lieu of a free download site chock full of pirated files, is a one time fee site that allow unlimited downloads after you pay a reasonable, one time fee. That small, one time fee entitles you to max out your hard drive on every conceivable type of download, both music and video. The one time payment for unlimited downloads is a much better option that risking the wrath of the RIAA or MPAA by siphoning off illegitimate content. So when you're looking for tracks or videos for your Zune, pass the pirate sites by in favor of another option.