I have outlined below the steps I take when setting up a web site and making money from it, commonly referred to as web site marketing. The first two steps are relatively easy. Step three is moderately difficult. However, there are volumes of books written covering website design. For beginners, I recommend you take the path of least resistance and pick up a book at your local bookstore. Any of the "for dummies" series will teach you more than enough about each topic. Steps four through six are easy to start doing, but require a substantial learning curve to do well.
1. Register a Domain Name |
Think of a name for your web site. Start with a ".com" for your first web site. About $9 for each domain name. |
Money Saving Tip:
Other extensions (or TLD's) are on sale all the time and can be had for as little as $1. ".us", ".info", ".org" are other popular extensions. |
Namecheap.com*
GoDaddy.com*
Yahoo.com |
2. Setup Hosting & Email |
A hosting company places a copy of your web site on their computers (servers). Their computers are hooked up to the internet in a way that allows the world to see your web site. |
Money Saving Tip:
HostGator lets you add unlimited domain names (web sites) to a single account for $9.95/mo. |
|
3. Design & Upload Your Site |
Designing a basic web site can be as easy as writing an email. You simply need a web site editor like NVU to get started. |
Money Saving Tip:
NVU is a fantastic free web site editor/designer tool. |
Dreamweaver.com*
NVU.com
XsitePro.com |
4. Content |
Now that you have your web site up and running, it's time to fill it with content, articles, pictures, whatever.
Infogoround is a fantastic Private Label content provider. I've been using them for over a year now for pre-written articles and information products that I can put my name on as the author. This is a paid service ($25/mo), but worth many times that. |
Money Saving Tip:
If you can't write your own content, use articles written by other people to get you started. Once you improve your writing skills, use those articles for research and write your own original content! Visit ezinearticles.com and goarticles.com for terms of use. |
Infogoround.com
Ezinearticles.com
Goarticles.com |
5. Monetizing |
If you want to make money from your website, the above links are free to join. You must have your web site already completed for review. Once approved, you can start adding links to your web site that will earn you commisions. |
Money Saving Tip:
Never pay to join a money making venture when you're just starting out. Once you've mastered two or three of the free affiliate programs, you will be able to make a much more educated decision before putting your money out. There are too many scammers out there who make big promises but never deliver. |
Clickbank
Commission Junction
Linkshare
Yahoo |
6. Promotion |
Now that you have completed all the previous steps, you are ready to start promoting your website. The above links are all paid advertising, and will start driving visitors to your website almost immediately. With Google Adwords, you can start with as little as $5/day. |
Money Saving Tip:
If you don't want to spend any money advertising, you still have several options. The best one by far is writing articles and submitting them to article directories such as ezinearticles.com and goarticles.com |
Article Marketer
MSN
Yahoo |
That about sums it up. I don't use any other resources for income. I make a nice living and have tons of free time. I work maybe 20 hours per week. My friends are so jealous.
I'm working on my own tracking script, so if you see anything below, just ignore it. Basically it will be a script to track conversions from google adwords and yahoo ppc back to commission junction. I will offer the script for free once it's ready.
